Abstract
Media images of recent events such as war and genocide in sub-Saharan Africa, earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean have made salient the devastating potential of natural disasters in the developing world, as well as the difficulties inherent in alerting people of impending crises and responding to their needs in the aftermath. Numerous government agencies and NGOs alike have argued that devastating events such as these are occurring with greater frequency, and that this increase in frequency and severity will continue for years to come. The developing world is especially vulnerable to incidents of this type, due to increasing population density, settlements in high-risk areas, increased technological risks, greater international travel, and an international upturn in war and terrorism, to name a few (Auf der Heide, Emerg Med Clin N Am, 14(2), 453–480, 1996).
Given this uptick in major disasters and crises, government communication efforts have received increased scrutiny, as have those of first responders and community organizations. Communication scholars have honed in on crisis communication—the construction and dissemination of public messages in the event of natural disasters, accidents, and other incidents likely to induce fear, anxiety, or unrest. Although crisis communication efforts are garnering increased attention from both scholars and practitioners, little consideration is given to the effectiveness of mediated emergency messages across different subpopulations. This lack of consideration is evident in the undifferentiated nature of emergency messages. Specific, predictable differences in audience responses associated with race and socioeconomic status are given even less attention.
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Lachlan, K., Spence, P., Eith, C. (2014). Risk, Crisis, and Emergency Communication in Developing Countries: Identifying the Needs of Urban Populations. In: Okigbo, C. (eds) Strategic Urban Health Communication. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9335-8_6
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