Assessing and Communicating Risk: A Study of Flood Risk Awareness and Resilience in Tulsa, Oklahoma

This paper presents the preliminary results for an investigation of perceptions, knowledge, and action on flood hazard mitigation and emergency preparedness in the West Tulsa communities of Eugene Field and Charles Page, which are located behind two different ageing levees. It presents the background of the survey project in conjunction with the City of Tulsa, Tulsa County, and the Oklahoma Silver Jackets, followed by a discussion of methodology and survey results. A measure of flood risk awareness, mitigation efforts, and preparedness efforts is included to provide context for the purpose behind the research, which is to discover the best forms of informational outreach to these communities. These results are a part of a larger Program for Public Information, and will serve as a baseline measurement of how effective future flood-related public information programming is. This paper also looks into the effectiveness of this pilot Program for Public Information (PPI) by interviewing and analyzing data from all PPI partners to determine the impact and reach of the program. Analysis of the interviews will lead to recommendations for effective ways of measuring impact and improving the effectiveness of the program.