Resident’s seismic risk recognition and safety Intention: A case of Jeddah city in Saudi Arabia

Jeddah is an expanding economic and industrial city in the western region of Saudi Arabia. The city is experiencing a rapid urbanization and increasing building construction to accommodate the growing number of population. This may lead to future risk of manmade and natural disasters. In order to understand residents’ seismic risk recognition/perceptions and intention for safety measures, this study has conducted a random survey containing an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire among the residents of Jeddah, and this resulted 319 completed responses. Major findings of the study indicated that most of the residents consider flood as the highest potential threat for the city. Traffic accident took the second, war took the third, other events took the fourth position, and cyclone storm took the fifth. The probability of earthquake was considered at the sixth position, however, majority of the residents regarded it as the most affecting disaster for the city life. To ensure proper structured building construction, the study found that residents should have basic knowledge on the Saudi Building Codes (SBC) 2007. The study analysis also comes up with a factor of resident’s educational qualification that impact on their risk acknowledgement and increasing knowledge on the SBC. The study tests and proposes a method to identify urban risks and their management strategies intended by the residents. The study findings would contribute to the existing research on urban risk identification and the role of the residents in urban safety improvement