Information seeking in a flood

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address the gaps in knowledge about how people get information in a flood and what they want to know.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 27 people were interviewed from two communities that suffered flooding in the 12 months before the interviews. Slow‐moving flood and flash flood were covered.

Findings

The type of disaster determines how people seek information. In slow‐moving flood, people heard from others, tracked it visually and via web‐available river gauge information, and talked to others with more flood experience. Radio was an important confirmation tool in the slow‐moving flood. In flash flood, people first heard from others and then turned to television.

Research limitations/implications

Participants made up a small sample skewed toward regional areas and were selected by snowball/convenience sampling methods. A survey is required to confirm or refute findings.

Practical implications

Word of mouth needs to be tapped into by agencies, and mobile phone networks and social media are critical to this. Radio and television should be more proactively used by emergency agencies and maps should be a feature of all flood communication.

Originality/value

The focus of disaster communication research tends to have been on agency use of communication rather than the individual's use of a range of communication channels. This study encourages agencies to look at how individuals look for information, the channels they use to get information and the type of information they seek.

Citation

Ryan, B. (2013), "Information seeking in a flood", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 229-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-05-2012-0059