{"title":"Communicating with the public in emergencies: A systematic review of communication approaches in emergency response","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104719","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Natural hazards and man-made emergencies pose a consistent challenge to emergency responders and government agencies, raising questions about how to communicate with the public most effectively during the emergencies to maintain safety. We conducted a pre-registered systematic review of current literature with the aim of categorising the depictions of emergency responders’ views of the public (e.g., as a group simply to help or as a group to also elicit help from) and modes of communication (e.g., online or face-to-face). From a screened set of 2084 papers, we identified 26 that met our inclusion criteria. Across these papers, the approaches of the emergency responders and government agencies were categorised into three main categories: Command and Control, Uncertainty and Management, and Trust and Collaboration. We found different modes of communication usage across different types of emergencies (e.g., fires and floods) in the literature, with social media being the most prominent. Further, three different patterns of social media use can be categorised: one-way, passive two-way and active two-way. We identified challenges in implementing two-way communication: specifically, distrust in the public during emergencies and organisational constraints on using information from the public. The views toward the public that emergency responders and government agencies hold can be related to what modes of emergency communication they choose to use with the public. Importantly, two-way communication between emergency responders/government agencies and the public should be encouraged, allowing for dialogue where the public share information with emergency responders who in turn make use of public engagement to enhance public safety.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":13915,"journal":{"name":"International journal of disaster risk reduction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420924004813/pdfft?md5=81b29ae04545c5c46e0319284f842e65&pid=1-s2.0-S2212420924004813-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International journal of disaster risk reduction","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420924004813","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Natural hazards and man-made emergencies pose a consistent challenge to emergency responders and government agencies, raising questions about how to communicate with the public most effectively during the emergencies to maintain safety. We conducted a pre-registered systematic review of current literature with the aim of categorising the depictions of emergency responders’ views of the public (e.g., as a group simply to help or as a group to also elicit help from) and modes of communication (e.g., online or face-to-face). From a screened set of 2084 papers, we identified 26 that met our inclusion criteria. Across these papers, the approaches of the emergency responders and government agencies were categorised into three main categories: Command and Control, Uncertainty and Management, and Trust and Collaboration. We found different modes of communication usage across different types of emergencies (e.g., fires and floods) in the literature, with social media being the most prominent. Further, three different patterns of social media use can be categorised: one-way, passive two-way and active two-way. We identified challenges in implementing two-way communication: specifically, distrust in the public during emergencies and organisational constraints on using information from the public. The views toward the public that emergency responders and government agencies hold can be related to what modes of emergency communication they choose to use with the public. Importantly, two-way communication between emergency responders/government agencies and the public should be encouraged, allowing for dialogue where the public share information with emergency responders who in turn make use of public engagement to enhance public safety.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (IJDRR) is the journal for researchers, policymakers and practitioners across diverse disciplines: earth sciences and their implications; environmental sciences; engineering; urban studies; geography; and the social sciences. IJDRR publishes fundamental and applied research, critical reviews, policy papers and case studies with a particular focus on multi-disciplinary research that aims to reduce the impact of natural, technological, social and intentional disasters. IJDRR stimulates exchange of ideas and knowledge transfer on disaster research, mitigation, adaptation, prevention and risk reduction at all geographical scales: local, national and international.
Key topics:-
-multifaceted disaster and cascading disasters
-the development of disaster risk reduction strategies and techniques
-discussion and development of effective warning and educational systems for risk management at all levels
-disasters associated with climate change
-vulnerability analysis and vulnerability trends
-emerging risks
-resilience against disasters.
The journal particularly encourages papers that approach risk from a multi-disciplinary perspective.