People in the Netherlands underestimate the danger of floods, according to an investivation of the international  humanitarian movement ‘International Red Cross’ (Dutch: het Rode Kruis). According to the movement, 80% of the people that participated in the survey (N = 1100) had no concerns about the risk of floods, while at the time of the investigation 60% of the land had a risk of flood, and were not prepared at all in case a flood would happen in the area they live in. This could (partly) be because of certain biases, which are described under the tab risk perception and biases.

Risk perception is different for everybody and many researchers have tried to determine the factors  of risk that can explain differences in individual risk perception and acceptance. Though, this is not an easy process and at least it has been found that personality is an important factor in understanding individual risk perception, as that it has been found that females judge risks usually more severe than males.
Lyklema (2001) tried to identify the key factors for water related risks in the Netherlands. The following factors were found to be most significant for the people’s judgement

• The fairness of the division of risks and gains between parties
  involved
• The familiarity with the risk and the effects to people exposed
• The reasons of the exposure to the risk
• The seriousness of the effects
• The degree of preparedness and the degree of control of consequences

The last point has particular importance, as  the perceived control is a key factor for understanding the perception, attitude and behaviour of people in risk situations. Perceived control is a factor that also appears in the Protection-motivation theory.