Status of emergency preparedness and its influencing factors among residents in Harbin city

Objective To examine the status quo of emergency preparedness and its influencing factors among residents in Harbin city of Heilongjiang province and to provide evidences for making effective strategies and intervention measures.Methods Totally 469 residents aged over 18 years in Harbin city were randomly selected with multi-stage cluster sampling and investigated with a face-to-face questionnaire survey.Results The overall average score of emergency preparedness was 3.4±0.4 and only 13.0%of the residents had prepared efficiently for possible emergencies.The residents with higher ratio of good preparedness for possible emergencies were those aged 60 years or older(96.7%,P<0.05),with emergency education or training experience(63.5%,P<0.01),with an average score of more than 4 for emergency knowledge and skill(22.2%,P<0.05),with correct attitude towards emergency(20.2%,P<0.01),and with better emergency knowledge and skills(10.7%,P<0.05);the residents with higher ratio of having material storage for emergency were those of male residents(63.2%,P<0.05),aged 60 years or older(86.7%,P<0.01),married(70.5%,P<0.01),working in enterprises or as institutions managers(85.3%,P<0.01),with emergency experience(78.2%,P<0.01),having emergency education or training(62.8%,P<0.05),with an average score of more than 4 for emergency knowledge and skill(35.5%,P<0.05),with correct attitude towards emergency(22.5%,P<0.01),and with better emergency knowledge and skills(12.7%,P<0.01).Logistic regression analyses showed that the influencing factors of emergency preparedness were age(odds ratioOR=2.112 for aged 40-59 years and 3.454 for aged≥60 years),emergency education or training experience(OR=2.340),risk awareness(OR=2.351),emergency attitude(OR=2.216),and emergency knowledge and skills(OR=2.418);the influencing factors of material storage for emergency were age(OR=2.462 for aged 40-59 years and 9.389 for aged ≥60 years),emergency experience(OR=3.483),emergency attitude(OR=1.681),and emergency knowledge and skills(OR=3.125).Conclusion The level of emergency preparedness capability among residents in Harbin city was relatively low.Age,risk awareness,emergency attitude,emergency knowledge and skills,emergency experience,emergency education or training were determinants of emergency preparedness capability among the residents.Attention should be paid on emergency education and training among the population.