Irish people less likely to have experienced major disasters than most other Europeans

The Eurobarometer poll, which surveyed over 25,600 citizens across all EU member states including over 1,000 in the Republic, revealed 6 per cent of Irish people said they had personally experienced floods in the past 10 years

Irish people are far less likely to have personally experienced some kind of major disaster than most other Europeans, according to the results of a new EU-wide survey.

Research by the European Commission shows that 77 per cent of Irish people said that they have never had direct or indirect experience of any type of disaster in the past decade, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic – compared to the EU average of 62 per cent.

It was the joint 3rd highest rate with Denmark and Portugal with only citizens of Finland (86 per cent) and Lithuania (81 per cent) being less personally affected by some kind of disaster.

READ MORE: Fundraiser launched for family of Donegal man who died in workplace accident in Australia

READ MORE: Revenue seized nearly 1,900 weapons and 1,700 pieces of ammunition sent through post over past year

At the other end of the scale, only 31 per cent of people in Croatia claimed they had personally been unaffected by any form of disaster.

The Eurobarometer poll, which surveyed over 25,600 citizens across all EU member states including over 1,000 in the Republic, revealed 6 per cent of Irish people said they had personally experienced floods in the past 10 years.

The survey allowed respondents who could also have experienced some type of disaster while travelling within the EU outside their home country.

Another 5 per cent said they had personally experienced extreme weather events with the same proportion claiming they had been impacted by some form of cybersecurity threat, such as a cyberattack or cybercrime.

The survey showed that 4 per cent of Irish respondents said they had been impacted by mass population displacement in emergencies which included “a sudden influx of refugees due to conflicts in neighbouring countries” - 2 percentage points below the EU average.

Floods were identified as the most likely type of disaster to affect Ireland with 54 per cent rating it as the greater risk ahead of cybersecurity threats (48 per cent) and extreme weather events (41 per cent).

The EU-wide survey also showed Irish people were divided equally about the threat to which they felt most personally exposed.

The results showed 36 per cent of respondents named both floods and cybersecurity threats as the risk which they were most likely to experience themselves, while 29 per cent were concerned about a human health emergency such as a highly contagious disease.

The research also highlighted how 20 per cent of Irish people said they did not trust information from public authorities and emergency services on disaster risks in the area where they lived, while only 42 per cent said they felt well informed about disaster risks that could affect them.

Asked what measures they had taken to prepare for emergencies, 49 per cent of Irish people said they kept flashlights or candles accessible, while 20 per cent said they had a battery-powered radio with the same proportion keeping a home pharmacy or first aid kit for emergencies.

The survey also showed that 17 per cent of people said they keep an emergency supply of food and drinks with 12 per cent having an emergency supply of water for cooking and washing.

In addition, 4 per cent had invested in protective measures to safeguard their home from some type of disaster such as clearing vegetation to protect against storms.

Just 3 per cent of Irish people said they had prepared a grab-bag in case they needed to evacuate rapidly in an emergency – the lowest rate in the EU where the average was 8 per cent.

Respondents were also asked to imagine a scenario in which a major natural disaster struck the area they lived in which resulted in widespread damage, no running water or electricity with no immediate aid from emergency services and disrupted supply chains.

Only 22 per cent of Irish people said they could provide meals for their households for at least a week in such circumstances – the joint lowest level in the EU with Romania and Cyprus – while just 10 per cent said they could meet their water needs for drinking, cooking and washing for at least a week.

Also worryingly, 46 per cent of respondents from Ireland said they did not have time or financial resources to prepare for disasters or emergencies. At the same time, 41 per cent said they felt well prepared for any disaster that might occur in their areas

The importance of community in Ireland also emerged with 89 per cent stating they expected they could rely on people in their neighbourhood for help within the first few days following a disaster in their area – the 2nd highest rate in the EU after Slovenia and above the EU average of 73 per cent.

Similarly, Irish people have a high level of trust in the ability of emergency services and authorities such as gardaí and Civil Defence to handle any disaster or emergency properly.

The survey showed 94 per cent of Irish people had confidence that the country’s emergency services could deal with a disaster – the 3rd highest rate in the EU.

It also highlighted how 10 per cent of Irish respondents said they were currently engaged in voluntary work to support emergency responder organisations to increase disaster resilience – 3 percentage points above the EU average.

A further 13 per cent said they planned to engage in such work in the future, while 26 per cent said they had done voluntary work with such organisations in the past.

Overall, more than half of all EU member states rated either extreme weather events or floods as the biggest threats.

A number of Mediterranean countries – Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain – ranked wildfires and forest fires as posing the greatest danger, while several Nordic countries as well as Belgium and Latvia believed cybersecurity threats were the greatest concern.

Italians rated geological disasters such as landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as the biggest threat, while Lithuanians identified political tension as their biggest fear.

The European Commission said it had significantly advanced its disaster prevention and preparedness framework in recent years.

It has also adopted five EU Disaster Resilience Goals in key strategic areas of civil protection action to improve the capacity of member states to respond effectively to a broad spectrum of disasters.

Sign up to the Irish Mirror's daily newsletter here and get breaking news and top stories direct to your inbox.