Integrating Risk, Crisis, and Emergency Communication as Disaster Communication

The fact is that we often make very little effort and have no intention to be exposed to information about disaster. This does not mean that we are not influenced by messages about disasters. Disaster communication occurs in three forms: visual, verbal, and nonverbal.

Visual Forms of Disaster Communication

Many messages which we are passively exposed to are visual. Pictures of the devastation of a hurricane, the crumbled buildings following the Oklahoma bombing or the images after 9-11 are all examples of visual messages emblazoned in our memories. These visual communication forms evoke emotion and tell a story, thus providing a form of narrative evidence to shape attitudes and behaviors. Some of these visual messages to which we are passively exposed address role occupants. The expectations that individuals have about a role for government, for first responders, for volunteers, and even for themselves during disasters will be shaped by visual images. Recall the media's role and rules (i.e., to be there, be first, and be accurate) as one audience for which strategic disaster communicators may plan communication efforts. Their intention is to be there, be first, and be accurate, but also to be more memorable than the competitor. 

Verbal Forms of Disaster Communication

In addition to the visual messages to which we are passively exposed, there will be both verbal and nonverbal messages. Again, we often have to make little effort to be exposed to these messages. Friends and neighbors, pastors and employers, and — again — the media will speak or write about who is responsible, what should be done, why more is not being done, what to expect, how to act and feel, and a host of other issues. The spoken discourse is more likely than the written discourse to reach us without any active intention on our part. We have more control over what we read. However, even with written discourse, in efforts to be informed, our choices to read some content may be associated with our passive exposure to ideas, opinion, and information that we were not seeking.

Nonverbal Forms of Disaster Communication

In many cases, accompanying the verbal communication of a source of disaster information will be nonverbal messages. When the spokesperson for a community ravaged by a hurricane speaks on a national news channel, the passion in her voice, the angry gestures, the direct eye contact, etc. all form an impression and contribute to the meaning of the verbal messages. For this reason, sources chosen to speak to represent government or agency views during times of disaster should be selected in part based on the ability to be aware of and control nonverbal messages. This may require as much planning and practice as preparing the verbal message. This should not be judged as support for dissemination of just a verbal message which will also contribute to the construction of meaning. There is an expectation to see the source of the message, in part because belief in the trustworthiness of its content will be judged by nonverbal behaviors. Thus, passive exposure to disaster communication shapes expectations about people, roles, events, and even governments and countries.

Despite the reality of an increasing number of messages about disaster around us, we still find ourselves actively seeking more information about disasters and wanting to talk about the information that we find. As we entered the 21st century, more than half of Americans reported that they were using the Internet to seek health information (Weiss, 2001). We do not have similar statistics about how often we seek information about disasters. We do know that even as disaster occurs, online news sources, blogs, and email exchanges reveal the active exchange of communication about the event. In efforts to advance disaster preparedness, government resources to identify strategic planning endeavors by terrorists often involve complex strategies to chart the online communication. One of the challenges of the 21st century in the U.S. has become drawing parameters in association with citizen rights to privacy in association with communication online, by telephone, and other modalities, and efforts to thwart terrorist activities. Here, too, planning associated with introducing these activities to the public is needed. Media reports may emphasize the encroachment into citizens' rights over the protection of citizens' lives and livelihood. Both aims must be balanced in meeting goals for disaster readiness.

The latter reflects the multifaceted scope of sources active in the dialogue about disaster preparedness. Elected political representatives spend a lot of time and monies debating and making policies about disaster readiness. Physicians, too, carry on a running dialogue about readiness and response to disasters. Public health professionals, including field staff that maintains vital records of births and deaths, clinic nurses, and professionals such as epidemiologists–despite working at sites sometimes far from previous disasters—strive to be prepared through readiness to communicate about disasters with the publics they serve.