Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the information channels used by public and nonprofit organizations to communicate disaster risk information to Colonias residents in Hidalgo County, Texas. It seeks to find creative and proactive solutions for organizations to improve risk education to these constituents. Design/methodology/approach -Initially a snowball sampling technique was used to conduct six face-to-face interviews. This was followed by an online survey sent to 64 reputational referrals, of which 23 completed the survey, generating a response rate of 34 percent. A comparative analysis between public and nonprofit organizations and the Fischer's exact test were employed to analyze the data. Findings -Channel preferences for providing risk information varied with public organizations using the television (TV) and the nonprofit organizations using bilingual staff for outreach. The television, radio, public events, and bilingual staff were considered to be the most effective while social media (Facebook, Twitter, and city web sites) was not considered at all by both groups. Lack of funding and staffing problems were identified as the primary challenges. Research limitations/implications -One limitation is that the paper focusses on organizations serving Spanish speakers in the Texas Colonias. Future research needs to investigate how other localities at border sites where culturally and linguistically diverse groups might reside, receive and understand risk information. The role of cross-national organizations in creating internationally coordinated plans for disaster communication should also be explored. Originality/value -It highlights the challenges faced by organizations in communicating risk, especially in border communities where culturally and linguistically diverse groups reside.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe empirical research intended to gauge the channels of risk information and their perceived effectiveness expressed by Hajj pilgrims in 2013 to better inform risk-reduction strategies at crowded religious events. Design/methodology/approach To do so, a research team partially funded by the Transportation and Crowd Management Center of Research Excellence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducted face-to-face interviews with 348 Hajj pilgrims in 2013. The semi-structured survey instrument used the Protective Action Decision Model framework to gather information on six pre-decisional variables that influence threat perceptions, stakeholder perceptions and decisions to take protective actions against impending threats. Findings Results of the multinomial logit regression using the traditional media (i.e. television and radio) as the reference category found support for ease of access, language of choice, gender and age differentials, as factors positively or negatively influencing respondents’ selections of their top three most preferred channels for risk communication materials. Printed materials (i.e. pamphlets and billboards) ranked first followed by smart technologies and outreach activities. Research limitations/implications The convenience sampling strategy adopted with only four female interviewers compared to 17 male interviewers, limited the number of female respondents to only 47 (13.7 percent) due to cultural restrictions. Interviews were conducted only in English and Arabic, leaving out the preferences of other language speakers. Originality/value Despite these limitations, this study makes a valuable contribution to theory and practice by highlighting the social and cognitive variables influencing risk communication at Hajj. No studies to date have examined choices and preferences of heterogeneous Hajj pilgrims.

Mass gatherings for sporting events, music shows, and religious needs continue to grow in our urban areas, requiring local authorities to develop safety procedures to mitigate the challenges of keeping the attendees safe. These challenges are even more pronounced at pilgrimage venues where social distancing and contact avoidance are difficult as pilgrims are required to perform various rituals in close proximity with others, in a sequential manner, either daily or weekly, as per their religious tenets. Over two million pilgrims attend the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia annually. Keeping the local and visiting pilgrims safe from crowd crush, sunstroke, skin infections, recurrence of prior medical issues, and contagious diseases requires the Saudi government to allocate huge investments for health communication and prevention programs every year. However, there is no evidence to date that has empirically tested whether Hajj pilgrims’ are able to receive such information and are subsequently adopting various health promoting behaviors. This study aims to do that by framing it within the Health Belief Model. Data collected and analyzed from 245 pilgrims in Makkah between September 9 th -19 th , 2017 suggests that roughly 48% of the pilgrims adopted all five protective measures. However, language barriers, limited health care facilities, and difficulties in purchasing prescription mediciens were cited as impediments to adopting healthy measures.The study concludes with recommendations for the KSA government agencies, Hajj authorities, Mission authorities and pilgrims, during various phases of travel-- i.e. pre-travel, during the pilgrimage and post-travel, in light of new emerging health threats.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) presents a unique case study for examining e-health initiatives as it is a country that has transformed itself from a predominantly rural population to an urban, developed one, within a short span of 65 years following the discovery of large oil reserves. This paper examines the tenets of the KSA's eHealth Program, the progress made, and the gaps identified in meeting the needs of KSA's rural populations. It begins with a brief review of e-health efforts in rural and urban settings around the world, followed by a concept map created from the Atlas of eHealth Country Profiles by the World Health Organization, to identify strengths and weaknesses across eight themes, within the participating countries. This is followed by a description of the KSA case study; and an analysis of advancements made and challenges faced, including e-health foundations, legal frameworks, electronic health records adoption, mobile health data access and social media use. Finally, we make suggestions regarding enhancement of rural health coverage through the creation of Smart Village initiatives in dispersed Saudi villages.

The growing popularity of large crowded events has complicated their management, leading to the exploration of new crowd management strategies targeted at streamlining operations to address the risks from stampedes, infrastructure collapse, health, and terrorist threats. The emphasis has been to alleviate financial losses, keep event organizers safe from liability, and most importantly keep the attendees safe. Effective communication among and between officials and guests has been identified as a key element in this process. However, few scholars have investigated these strategies among heterogeneous crowds that congregate at religious sites. To overcome this gap, the authors use a case study approach focusing on initiatives adopted in managing approximately 3 million pilgrims from over 140 countries, congregating in Mecca, Saudi Arabia during the Hajj pilgrimage season. Findings suggest that the recently popularized use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) wrist bands for counting pilgrims at ports of entry and mosque gates alone is inadequate. A more networked approach that integrates the voices of Hajj pilgrims in risk communication is needed. Setting up Community Response Grids (CRGs) to use social media channels among pilgrim visitors need to be explored.