Eurobarometer: Cypriots turn to social media for information on disaster risks

Cypriots feel more exposed to wildfires and extreme weather events more generally, according to a recent Eurobarometer opinion survey, which shows respondents in the country to be far more concerned than the EU average about wildfires and mass population displacement.

Responding to a question on which sources of information they would use to learn about disaster risks, the first pick among Cypriots was social media networks (42 per cent compared to 29 per cent in the EU), higher than traditional media and significantly higher than local and regional authorities.

The Eurobarometer survey was conducted from February 7 to March 3 in the EU through 26,411 one-on-one interviews. In Cyprus, the survey was conducted from February 7 to February 26 through a total of 500 one-on-one interviews.

People in 17 member states feel most exposed to extreme weather events, such as storms, droughts and heatwaves. Respondents feel most exposed to wildfires in Portugal and Cyprus and to floods in Bulgaria.

In Sweden, Denmark and Czechia cybersecurity threats topped the list, while the most popular answers were political or geopolitical tensions in Germany, critical infrastructure disruptions in Estonia and human health emergencies in Finland.

More specifically, when asked which danger they personally felt more exposed to (multiple answers were possible), most responded with wildfires and forest fires (47 per cent, 16 per cent in the EU) and extreme weather events (41 per cent, 38 per cent), followed by mass population displacement in emergencies (33 per cent, 17 per cent), cybersecurity threats (25 per cent, 23 per cent), floods (16 per cent, 26 per cent), human health emergencies (15 per cent, 27 per cent), geological disasters (14 per cent, 13 per cent), critical infrastructure disruptions (13 per cent, 21 per cent) and animal or plant disease outbreaks (13 per cent, 10 per cent).

Political and geopolitical tensions were very much lower on the list for Cypriots (12 per cent in Cyprus, 22 per cent in the EU), followed by terrorist attacks (12 per cent, 14 per cent), major accidents (7 per cent, 10 per cent) and nuclear accidents (5 per cent, 6 per cent).

Responding to a question on what sources of information they would use to learn about disaster risks (maximum three answers), the largest share of respondents in Cyprus chose social media networks (42 per cent) compared to the EU average where this was the third most popular choice with 29 per cent.

The second most popular choice in Cyprus was national media (39 per cent compared to 49 per cent in the EU), family or friends (39 per cent in Cyprus, 31 per cent in the EU), local or national authorities or agencies (30 per cent, 27 per cent), local or regional media (24 per cent, 36 per cent) and emergency management services such as the police, firefighters or civil protection (19 per cent, 33 per cent).