This study examines cognitive tendencies, preparedness, and adaptation behavior to extreme weather events like wind and storm surges in Jamaica. Under a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) design, it seeks to determine how cognitive tendencies, such as logical reasoning, memory, confidence and temporal discounting affect responses to extreme weather events like wind and storm surges. Thus, the project addresses a critical data gap for the Caribbean region, which has been often overlooked by social research compared to Latin American countries.

The study was designed and implemented by Parstats, involving one control and three treatment groups balanced across sex, age, education and country region. These are subject to different questions and interactive games to assess how individuals perceive and respond to weather-related risks. 1,300 individuals above 18 years old were recruited through a push-to-web modality, and the experiment was implemented using an online platform on the respondents’ mobile phones.

The study provides a nuanced understanding of how individuals perceive and react to weather events, offering valuable insights for enhancing disaster preparedness and risk mitigation policy interventions in regions prone to natural disasters.