PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF FLOOD RISKS IN THE TAZLAU-CASIN BASIN

This paper analyses the results of a public survey, which was conducted from July 2008 untill January 2009 with participants that live in the lower part of Trotus river basin (the Tazlau-Casin depression), both in urban and rural areas . In the survey 150 people answered to questions related to age, sex, occupation, education, the concept of flooding, their oppinion on the way authorities deal with the risk of flooding, the willingness to volunteer in risk mitigation, personal experience with flooding, etc. A similar questionnaire, based on scientific information on the concept of flooding, was answered by a group of pupils (119), aged 8 to 18 years, from the same area. The main goal of this particulaire survey was to identify the way that youngsters perceive and understand floods as an important natural hazard in the area, in order to come up with better methods to inform, educate and train people about floods and proper reactions during flood events. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]