Communicating with the public in emergencies: A systematic review of communication approaches in emergency response

Sayaka Hinata · Hannah Rohde · Anne Templeton

21 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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Public Relations and Crisis Communication Disaster Management and Resilience Safety and Risk Management

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.

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References

2021The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews 2007Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities, and Strategy for Disaster Readiness 2018The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018 for information professionals and researchers 2013Social Media in Disaster Risk Reduction and Crisis Management 2015Socializing in emergencies—A review of the use of social media in emergency situations 2018Social Media in Crisis Management: An Evaluation and Analysis of Crisis Informatics Research 2019Facilitating Collective Psychosocial Resilience in the Public in Emergencies: Twelve Recommendations Based on the Social Identity Approach 2013Warning tweets: serial transmission of messages during the warning phase of a disaster event

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