Disaster risk communication organizational capacities at the age of extremes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v67i.99225Keywords:
extreme events, disinformation, vulnerability, disasters, civil defenseAbstract
Several studies have warned about the increasing frequency of extreme weather and climate events like heavy rainfall, extreme droughts and heat waves, which have been intensified by the climate change and accelerated by anthropogenic actions. Climate change takes place in social contexts known for constantly changing. For instance, social disparity forms, such as inequality and racism, emerge and overlap within these contexts, and it makes some people more vulnerable to disasters. Digital extremes, such as disinformation about disaster contexts, are also increasing. Organizations must have disaster-risk communication capacities at the age of extremes to respond three extremes, namely: meteorological, social and digital extremes. The aim of the current article is to discuss disaster-risk communication organizational capacities at the age of extremes. A literature review on the concept of disaster was carried out, as well as a desk research in governmental publications about municipal civil defense and protection agencies, and a qualitative field research in the second semester of 2024 in Cataguases City - Minas Gerias State and in Nova Friburgo City - Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, which are medium- and large-sized cities in Paraíba do Sul River Basin. According to the results, municipal civil defense agencies lack financial and material resources, and it compromises their communication capacities. The human resources available are also not enough. There is lack of training actions to deal with new risk communication challenges, such as disinformation on alerts outspread on social networks and messaging apps, as observed during the field research. Furthermore, people do not know what extreme events actually are. Despite these challenges, municipal civil defense agents develop communication strategies to deal with disinformation on both social networks and messaging app groups. Finally, the article highlights the need for analyzing communication capacities in place by monitoring contingency plans’ implementation. These plans must be resilient to intersections among these meteorological, social and digital extreme scenarios.
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