The results were similar to findings in other risk perception studies; people at high risk tended to underestimate the risk while those at low risk tended to overestimate.

Research in Switzerland

A recent study (Siegrist and Gutscher, 2006) looked at people's perceptions of flood risk in Switzerland. The Swiss authorities also publish detailed maps showing the risks for different areas. The researchers asked people to give their own assessment of the flood risk in their area and these perceptions were compared to the experts' estimates. The results were similar to findings in other risk perception studies; people at high risk tended to underestimate the risk while those at low risk tended to overestimate. Most of them didn't know about the official flood-risk maps. Nevertheless, people in general agreed with the experts as to whether the flood risk was above or below average.

What's really interesting about the Swiss study is that they asked people about their preparedness for flooding. In particular, they asked whether people kept important documents in their cellars. They found that people's behaviour was much the same, whether or not they lived in a high-risk or a low-risk area. In other words, people still kept important stuff in their cellar even though they lived in a high-risk area... and they themselves recognised that they lived in a high-risk area!

http://www.rics.org/site/download_feed.aspx?fileID=2716&fileExtension=PDF survey of valuers about impact of flooding on house prices.

http://www.floodforum.org.uk/files/Maddi%20Bali.pdf flood forum survey GLOUCESTERSHIRE loads of details photos

http://www.cieh.org/uploadedFiles/Core/Membership/Regional_network/South_West_region/July_Floods_2007-Gloucester.pdf photos