Social Media for Communicating Disaster Updates

Needs Address

• Stronger linkages between organisations facilitating response processes and suppliers of climate information
• Availability of climate information at the community level
• Enhanced adaptation capacity of local organisations that provide health, emergency, and social services

Adaptation effects

• Efficiently informs users about specific elements of disaster events, location and accessibility of shelters, contact information
• Enables quick, targeted and specific information, relevant to different areas, as opposed to blanket information more likely to be sent using SMS communication
• Enables communication between friends and families
• Informs about evacuation routes

Overview and Features

The use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook before, during and after disaster events to relay alerts and warnings, track events and inform relief and recovery activities.

Cost

• Costs for gadget
• Costs for internet connections

Energy source

Electricity for gadgets employed when using social media applications, e.g. laptops, computers, mobile devices

Ease of maintenance

Relies on maintained operation of social media hosts

Technology performance

• To date has been used informally, though more formal employment of social media is developing with complementary databases, tools and programs now being developed
• Bridges gap between residents and professionals in providing specific and current updates

Considerations

• Sole reliance of Twitter and Facebook is not recommended. It has been noted that Twitter postings can become chaotic in such scenarios
• The accuracy of information shared needs to be checked with  official information sources
• Collaboration between institutions relying on social media to inform their response actions is needed to avoid replication of efforts 

Co-benefit, suitability for developing countries

• Community cohesion and involvement in disaster prevention and response processes
• Raises global awareness about disasters
• Data can be used after disasters to track events and relief activities
• Dependent on use of and access to social media, including knowhow, gadget access, internet access, which varies between countries and districts
• Encouraged by increasing use of mobile phones and mobile data
• Timely information is often key for survival in disaster events in developing countries
• The potential cultural and social barriers to employing such technology must be addressed

Information Resources

ADB, 2014. Technologies to Support Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Asia. Asian Development Bank. Available at: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/149400/technologies-climate-change-adaptation.pdf [12 January 2015]

APEC, 2012. Full Report – 5th Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum. Available at: http://www.apec-epwg.org/public/uploadfile/act/12_epwg_003a.pdf [20 March 2015]

Huang, C-M., E. Chan, and A. A. Hyder. 2010. Web 2.0 and Internet Social Networking: A New Tool for Disaster Management? BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 10: 57. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-10-57

Li, J., and H. R. Rao. 2010. Twitter as a Rapid Response News Service: An Exploration in the Context of the 2008 China Earthquake. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 42 (4) pp. 1–22

White, E.T. 2014. The Application of Social Media in Disasters. IIGR Working Paper Series. Available at: http://aboutiigr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-Application-of-Social-Media-in-Disasters-Final-Product.pdf