Most Los Angeles-area residents expect terrorists will hit America's second-largest city within the next year, but only about one third have made basic preparations, a poll released on Monday showed.
The telephone survey of about 1,000 Los Angeles County residents found that just 37 percent had stockpiled emergency supplies or developed a plan of action in case of an attack, according to the California-based Rand Corp.
Rand, a research group that conducted the study with the UCLA School of Medicine and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said 60 percent of those surveyed expected the region to be struck by terrorists within the next year.
"Despite a consensus that Los Angeles is a likely target for terrorists, few of us have taken steps to prepare for the consequences of an attack," said David Eisenman, a Rand researcher and an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA who led the study.
"We need to better understand what motivates people to plan ahead and use that knowledge to encourage all groups to be better prepared for terrorist attacks or other disasters," he said.
