Using Social Media to Increase Disaster awareness

Using Social Media to Increase Disaster awareness

Introduction

The rapid evolution of technology has brought with it many benefits. It has also led to increased use of the internet and especially the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Whatsapp. With improved technology and increased internet access, people can easily share and keep each other informed of what is going on across the globe in a matter of seconds. Social media has been a great tool in keeping people informed, especially in reporting and increasing disaster awareness.

Increasing awareness

Social media in the current age is a common, smart, and a critical online application tool that allows people to interact, communicate, and share information, and sources with each other especially in times of disaster. Each Social media platform has distinct features that make them uniquely suited for disaster management and raising awareness. For example, Instagram is a media sharing application that allows its users to share photos and videos. Meanwhile, Facebook, another social networking site, allows its users to post comments, share media with user friends, buy & sell goods and services, and create a social group where multiple people can interact at the same time.  Therefore, pictures and videos of disasters happening in a particular area can be shared with millions of people in an instant. It is evident that both Instagram and Facebook can be essential in the creation of disaster awareness.

Natural disasters are a common occurrence in many areas around the world. They could be in the form of tornados, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires. Sometimes disasters can be predicted, which would allow sharing of this information with others. The use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, which have millions of users, would help increase disaster awareness in these areas. This can be done by warning others and responding to assistance requests and inquiries. It can also keep people updated during a disaster. Use of social media in creating awareness not only keeps people aware but could save lives in times of emergency.

Literature Review

Hurricane Katrina Vs. Hurricane Sandy

The usage of social media plays a critical role before, during, and after a natural disaster. The role of social media is obvious when we compared Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 in terms of disaster response. In 2005, there was no active usage of twitter or exchange of online news of any kind. Lack of information sharing during Hurricane Katrina left people to make individual decisions based on their basic personal prediction skills. Hurricane Sandy, on the other hand, social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, were very active. Shared information was available through posts, texts, photos, and videos. All the information was provided by individuals, the government and utility companies to keep the public updating. Cothen (2013) mentioned in her article that it is important to address these problems now, to ensure these tools are used to the full extent of their abilities, and to help to develop an application of social media tools for public safety in the future. Social media is not only able to share information but also generating money for humanitarian purposes, as the American Red Cross has proved. (Velev & Plamena, 2012) As mentioned, social media can help before, during, and after a disaster. Therefore, it helps to understand which organizations to contact during emergencies. Also, it allows people to communicate with their families, volunteer, and others during a disaster. People can share, discuss, and inquire about the damage of such disasters.

Correct sharing of information

Karimi noted that social media provided valuable and useful information during a critical situation to help emergency management have a clear understanding of hazards. This can be done in a timely manner after analyzing Twitter messages during natural disasters. Natural language processing and data mining through the use of methods like burst detection, tweet filtering, classification, online clustering, and geotagging make the process easier. Also, during a disaster, the general public can report on the ground as a result of the growing use of social media (Karimi et al., 2015).  This improves decision making for emergency response and enhances awareness.  Time-critical situations will be possible as long as the sharing of information is correct and accurate.

Collection and tracking of information

Lindsay noted that social media has many beneficial aspects of dealing with disasters for officials, agencies, and the general public in emergency management. Social media can help emergency management to collect and track information during a natural hazard occurrence. This leads to increased communication ability among individuals who are facing natural disasters and government, mainly official emergency management. According to the American Red Cross, a 2009 study shows that social media is the fourth the most popular platform of accessing emergency information. It is not only individuals who make use of social media but also communities. They use to raise awareness of dangerous places, informing victims’ relatives about their status, and raising of the fund. Lindsay noted in her report that most of the information in social media about hazards is correct and accurate; however, it can be exaggerated in some cases. (Niles et al., 2019) Found that during a disaster, people usually tweet about how to prepare best and recover. This information would be of importance for future disaster planning to reduce disaster

In conclusion, Social media is not a tool used just for fun alone in the modern world. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram have become critical in the dissemination of information during the time of disasters. They are used to create awareness and collect information that can be used to help in times of emergency. They can also be used to save thousands of lives, making them indispensable modern tools of disaster management. Therefore, learning how they work and one familiarizing themselves with its uses would help not only to others but to them as well.