Crisis Communication after Earthquakes in Greece and Japan: Effects on Seismic Disaster Management

Abstract

The communication of emergency information shortly before or after the manifestation of seismic hazards is a crucial part of disaster management. Crisis communication aims to protect, support and guide the public and emergency services throughout the response and recovery phase. In the case of seismic events, a fundamental query refers to how the information to be released to the public immediately after/before the seismic event affects disaster impacts and management. This paper addresses the uncertainty involved in emergency seismic information, identifies the sources, means, content and mode of emergency communication and points to the effects of different models of crisis communication on public perceptions, on emergency responses and, hence, on disaster management. A review of past experiences of seismic crisis communication strategies in earthquake-prone countries, namely Greece and Japan, reveals successes and failures in managing uncertainty, and in building public trust and improving response capacities. The findings include the importance of crisis communication in seismic disaster management, the levels/layers of uncertainty involved in emergency seismic information and how they impact risk perceptions, the public trust/mistrust effect on scientific and management institutions as well as some recommendations for seismic crisis communication strategies to minimize uncertainty and improve emergency responses.

Information Preference and Information Supply Efficiency Evaluation before, during, and after an Earthquake: Evidence from Songyuan, China

“…The second section surveyed the earthquake disaster information needs (information expected acquisition), information supply (information actual acquisition), and the communication channels used during daily life, earthquake emergencies, earthquake relief, and post-disaster reconstruction, which were used in this research. This section was designed according to the recent literature on earthquake information classification [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ] and the basic information needs of individuals in earthquake disasters [ 66 ], and was newly developed ( Supplementary File S1 with * sign). As people in risky situations tend to acquire various types of information through multiple channels, this section of the questionnaire was in the form of multiple choice.…”

“…Su et al [ 24 ] divided earthquake emergency information into eight categories. In addition, Sapountzaki [ 25 ] and Fokaefs [ 26 ] proposed that earthquake emergency information be grouped into four types of messages. See Table 1 for details.…”

“…(a) The earthquake disaster information mentioned above only referred to earthquake emergency information after earthquake disasters, and there was a lack of attention paid to information prior to the earthquake. Risk communication spans every phase of the (disaster) risk management cycle, not only the emergency [ 26 ];…”

“…Traditional mass media mainly refers to television, radio and newspapers and magazines. Mass media has been found to be the most utilized channel of information dissemination during disasters [ 12 , 14 , 26 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Among them, radio is considered to be the most frequently used information dissemination channel in crisis events [ 12 , 14 , 44 , 45 , 46 ].…”

“…Among them, radio is considered to be the most frequently used information dissemination channel in crisis events [ 12 , 14 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Furthermore, of course, there are studies which show that television remains the most common channel that audiences use in times of crisis [ 26 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. Compared with traditional media, social media is also considered to be an important channel [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ] for risk information due to its interactivity and speed.…”