Three-quarters of Romanians have a very high or fairly high confidence in the official weather alerts, reveals a survey conducted by the Centre for Urban and Regional Sociology (CURS) of the perception of Romanians regarding weather alerts.
The poll was carried out between October 14 and 26 on a representative sample of 1,036 adults in face-to-face interviews, at the respondents' homes. The sample was probabilistic, multistage and stratified, and the maximum margin of error is ą3% at a 95% confidence level. The data is unweighted.
According to the findings, 74% of respondents say that they have very or quite a lot of confidence in the official alerts and 21% of them say they have a very high confidence, and 53% a fairly high confidence, while only 22% have little confidence, and 3% have no confidence at all.
"These data indicate that, overall, the weather warning system has a solid credibility among the population, being perceived as a useful and efficient tool for informing the public in risk situations," according to CURS .
The findings also reveal why Romanians trust weather alerts or not, with respondents mentioning that warnings are usually confirmed by reality.
Thus, 34% of the participants say that they trust weather alerts because the messages received match the weather situation observed later, and 30% appreciate the clarity and easy to understand nature of the information received.
On the other hand, 18% of respondents believe that warnings are often exaggerated, and 8% believe that they are issued too late or not arrive on time, and 2% say they do not trust the organisations that issue the alerts.
Asked about the frequency of weather alerts received on their phone, almost half of Romanians - 47% - believe that they are sent as often as needed, 29% would like the alerts to be more frequent, to prevent more serious problems, while 21% believe that they should be issued less frequently, so as not to scare the public.
"The CURS survey shows that Romanians perceive weather alerts as useful and, in general, credible. Trust is based on direct experience, on the fact that warnings are confirmed and that messages are clear, while distrust occurs especially where there is a perception of exaggeration or delay. In a context marked by increasingly more extreme weather events, these results suggest that maintaining public trust depends on the accuracy and promptness of the communication. Romanians are, for the most part, receptive to warning messages, and the alert system, including RO-ALERT, is perceived as a necessary tool for the safety of the public," according to CURS.
CURS is a member of the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) and collaborates with public bodies, non-governmental organisations and international partners.
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