Attitudes towards acceptance of risk to buildings from extreme winds

Economic losses from natural disasters due to extreme wind hazards, such as hurricanes or tornadoes, have been significant in recent years, and recent amendments to building design standards have been aimed at mitigating the risk from catastrophic wind storms. Public and professional attitudes regarding building performance and willingness to accept risk from wind hazards are reflected in these amended standards. In general, attitudes of decision-makers towards risk can be categorised as risk-accepting, risk-neutral and risk-averse. Recent studies of risk attitudes have suggested that individuals or small group decision-makers tend to be risk-averse when confronting low-probability, high-consequence hazards. In this paper, risk-acceptance attitudes towards extreme wind hazards are explored utilising cumulative prospect theory to establish a context for how this hazard is viewed in comparison to other hazards affecting buildings. Two case studies are considered, the first involving low-rise residential buildings designed for hurricane winds according to North and South Carolina practice in 2001 and the second related to high-rise commercial office buildings designed for wind and earthquake in Los Angeles, CA; Charleston, SC and Boston, MA. A comparison of risk attitudes towards these competing natural hazards reveals that risk-acceptance is more prevalent for wind than for seismic hazards.