Research of the Awareness and Preparedness for Floods of Foreigners Temporarily Residing in Bulgaria (Varna)

• Main Authors: Romanova Hristianna, Yotov Todor, Zahariev Vili
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2019-12-01
• Series: Revista Academiei Forţelor Terestre
• Subjects: flood; heavy rainfall; topogenic disasters; preparedness; awareness
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2478/raft-2019-0041

A survey of 230 young people from 12 countries from Europe and Asia has been made. A high percentage of respondents (42 %) have experienced a flood. Most respondents (64.6 %) have not been informed whether they live in a flood-risk area. Self-assessment of respondents’ ability to provide first aid in flood situations is high (75 %), but the overall disaster preparedness is low because 78.9 % of respondents say they feel unprepared. The awareness and readiness of the studied group of 230 young foreigners temporarily residing the country are evaluated as follows: very good in providing CPR; with a good knowledge of flood epidemic consequences 80 % will take effective measures against the risk of intestinal contagious disease, and 81.5% will be saved from drowning because they can swim; lower, but still good preparedness for wound and arterial bleeding first aid (close to 40 %), mechanisms of contamination transmission by means of objects (33,3 %), use of disinfectants in the case of epidemics (45,4 %); very low readiness for rapid evacuation incases of floods and other disasters (only 5.3 % have a bug-out bag), etc.