5. Societal Response

The fieldwork in London consists of three kinds of survey including in-depth, structured and semi-structured questionnaires, in addition to analysis of secondary data sources, such as official reports, newspapers etc. This chapter includes the methodology and the results of the three-levelled survey. The first level includes questionnaires conducted directly with the emergency personnel from different departments in several London Boroughs, Environment Agency, Port of London Authority, Thames Barrier and Transport for London. The aim was to understand the emergency protocols, flood hazard, forecasting, monitoring and early warning systems. The results of the first level helped to understand the mechanism of emergency protocols in London. The second level consists of semi-structured interviews with the employees of transportation system to understand their awareness of risk, awareness of their responsibilities during emergencies and to gather information on behaviour pattern of public during emergencies from experiences of transportation personnel. The third level includes face-to-face structured interviews with lay people to understand their perception, their preparedness level, awareness of risk and available information.