Some Ecological Contexts of Attitudes Concerning Issues of Civil Defense

摘要

The examination of six clusters of major issues bearing public credibility and acceptance of national civil defense preparedness are examined in terms of the geo-ecological context of the residential area. They include public perception of threat, survivability, civil defense costs, the implementation of crisis relocation programs, general attitudes toward crisis relocation, and claims regarding willingness to act. The key differences among respondents from counties characterized as more and less well-to-do may be summarized as: Less well-to-do counties estimate the likelihood of war, the chances of survival both in fallout and blast shelters, the current and desirable investment in civil defense, the intention to evacuate spontaneously and relocate upon recommendation by the President, and compliance with instructions where to go at higher levels than do more well-to-do counties. On the other hand, more well-to-do counties find the target and fallout danger, likelihood of Presidential decision to relocate and the associated increment to spontaneous evacuation, and likelihood of adaptive spontaneous evacuation higher than those respondents in less well-to-do counties. Residents of high risk areas (TR-82) tend to recognize this as they perceive the target danger at higher levels than do residents of low risk areas.