NATURAL HAZARDS, cilt.122, sa.67, ss.1-17, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Earthquakes have been one of the most significant natural hazards threatening humanity
throughout history. In this study, we aimed to develop an earthquake safety culture scale to
psychometrically measure individuals' attitudes and behaviors regarding their personal life
safety before and after an earthquake. During the scale development phase, two different
surveys were administered for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA). The study population consisted of individuals aged 18 and over living
in Türkiye. 445 Individuals participated in the EFA and 309 in the CFA. The earthquake
safety culture scale, a two-factor structure ("pre-earthquake" and "during and after earthquake"),
yielded highly reliable and valid results. It is believed that the resulting scale will
contribute to disaster managers in the process of building an earthquake-resilient society,
as well as to local and national disaster management policies such as training, awareness,
planning, and exercises for community-supported disaster management. It is recommended
that this developed scale be retested in different cultures and its relationship with
various variables that may influence "pre-earthquake" and "during and after earthquake"
attitudes regarding disaster management be investigated.