"This publication is an important contribution to literature on disaster and humanitarian crisis communication. It analyses in detail the response to two major but very different emergencies in Haiti: the 2010 earthquake and, later that year, the outbreak of cholera. While humanitarian agencies stil
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l see 'communication' as primarily the process of delivering or extracting information, for the affected population, the process of communication seems to matter as much as the information itself. The best communication strategies, whether highly localised or nationwide, were those that meshed a number of different communication channels, says this report. However, more coordination is needed, and monitoring and evaluation practice in communication projects was quite weak." (CAMECO Update 1-2012)
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"The report focuses on Crisis Communication during the most devastating floods of 2010 ever witnessed in the history of Pakistan in which the death toll of human beings exceeded 2,000 [...] According to the views of various media reporters and natural calamity analysts, unfortunately crisis communic
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ation could not play any effective role in this most crucial time of Pakistan. Interviews carried out with the victims, studies, facts and figures indicate that international response to this natural calamity has been slow and inadequate. Pakistan government’s inability to sustain its grip in tackling this natural calamity is also responsible for the insufficient international reaction. The need of the time is to chalk out immediate rehabilitation programs and long-term planning in order to confront this crisis in the shortest possible time and to counter any similar calamity in future and to prevent it from turning into a long term mishap." (Abstract)
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"This guide sets out approaches and tools for public awareness and public education in disaster risk reduction already widely in use by National Societies. It pulls together a range of research on risk communications and public education for behaviour change, and practitioners’ own discoveries in
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applying these. The guide focuses on four key approaches: campaigns, participatory learning, informal education, formal school-based interventions. It considers the following tools for implementing these approaches, including publications, curricula, modules and presentations, e-learning, performing and cultural arts, games and competitions, audio and video materials, web pages and activities, and social media and telecommunications. It then explains how to ensure that these tools are high quality, focusing on powerful images and well-crafted messages that are engaging, proven, adapted and localized. It also highlights the principles needed to apply these effectively: ensuring legitimacy and credibility, consistency and standard messaging, scalability, and sustainability. Through a wealth of examples, the guide highlights integrated experiences, approaches and tools, by region." (Pages 9-10)
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"OCHA uses communications to create awareness among target audiences (inside and outside the organization) about humanitarian emergencies, including natural disasters and complex emergencies, as well as their impact on vulnerable people. OCHA Communications Officers are charged with the task of brin
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ging humanitarian priorities to the world’s attention, seeking to create an operating environment that averts, or alleviates, human suffering and promotes the well being and protection of individuals and communities affected by or at risk of natural or environmental disasters or conflict [...] This handbook presents guidance on communications and provides specific information on Communications Officers’ roles and responsibilities. It also includes a section on engaging with the media, comprising rules and practical tips for OCHA media relations." (Page 1)
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"In 2007 nearly 17,000 people died because of natural disasters and more than 211 million others were directly affected. News media play a basic role in giving publicity to these numerous instances of global suffering as it is mainly through media reports that the world perceives international crise
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s. Drawing upon theories on distant suffering, this study investigates the mediated representation of international crises, with a focus on natural disasters occurring in Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan and the USA. Applying critical discourse analysis, this article explores how discourses of hierarchy and inequality are realised in news texts about distant suffering. The cases of analysis are nine news items that were broadcast on a public and a commercial Belgian television channel on 2 January 2006. The comparative analysis of these news texts reveals glaring differences that reflect global hierarchies of place and human life. Suffering in the West (USA and Australia) was portrayed as comprehensible and close to the spectator, who could identify with the distant sufferers as if they are like us. While being of a greater magnitude, the Indonesian disaster was in contrast presented as no cause for concern or action, which blocked the engagement with the distant sufferers who were portrayed as ‘Others’, with a capital ‘o’. Pakistan sufferers were also articulated as distant others, but close-ups of gazing children urged the spectator to care for them and potentially act on the represented misfortune. In general, the critical discourse analysis supports the claim that Western news media reproduce a certain kind of global hierarchy, mainly a Euro-American-centred world order, and that news discourse normalises inequalities. This article argues that mediated representations of international crises reflect and consolidate the power relations and divisions that characterise our contemporary world." (Abstract)
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"The analysis deals with the presentation of hunger and related emergencies in the mass media. It focuses on problems and structures of journalistic production processes and symbiotic relationships between the media and the aid industry. Mass media often create the impression that “hunger” occur
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s unexpectedly and abruptly. In this way media and journalists produce their own news value, which they need for selling the topic. Bad weather, climate change and natural disasters fit into the concept of mass media, their news selection processes as well as their production structures much better than the fact that hunger is a political phenomenon mostly, at heart, a major political scandal. Such scandals require profound analysis, investigation and a high level of journalistic independence and know-how." (Abstract)
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"There are various risks at the local level. On one hand, Nepal lies on a seismically active zone and has a fragile geological structure and, on the other hand, proper policies, government access to rural and remote places, and public awareness and knowledge are lacking. There is an urgent need for
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all sectors to address disaster related issues. Awareness campaigns should be conducted for the initiation of comprehensive disaster risk management. The mass media has to raise its voice on the frequency and intensity of disasters, vulnerabilities, risks, rights, and responsibilities and shape mainstream disaster risk reduction (DRR) programmes into development efforts. The disaster management (DM) cycle should be considered while news and information are collected. Voices of affected communities need to be captured and experts consulted. Information should be provided capturing the voices of communities, experts, civil societies, and government authorities. To make information more accessible, programmes should be catchy, attractive, and entertaining. When does a particular disaster occur? What possible impact can it have? Which community and economic class is eff ected? What are the causes? Such questions and issues have to be considered while preparing reports and terminologies have to be accurate. Media personnel can also focus on disaster preparedness and possible disaster risk reduction measures." (Executive summary)
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"More than 20 million people in Pakistan were affected by the worst floods in the country’s history in late July 2010 [...] The humanitarian response included efforts to inform people about the services available, and communicate with them about accessing these services. It also included efforts t
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o provide platforms by which people could tell the aid workers about particular help they needed or register complaints about services. However, during the flood response, there was no consistent, broad research that could indicate which communication efforts were most effective. This study is an attempt to start providing this data, and thereby directly support the communication plans and efforts of humanitarian organizations. It assesses the impact of humanitarian information provided to flood-affected populations in Sindh and Punjab three months after the flood, and examines to what degree people received information about help available and how well that information enabled people to get that help and to help themselves." (Executive summary, page 2)
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"This booklet documents the participatory video methodology as an affordable and easy-to-use video tool enabling community members to record their experience and strengthen their own knowledge on disaster risks and climate change, as well as to increase their capacity to act on that knowledge and se
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cure change." (commbox)
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"Depuis le séisme du 12 janvier 2010, l'aide internationale afflue à Haïti. Passés les premiers secours, c'est maintenant tout un pays qui doit se reconstruire. Un soutien durable est donc nécessaire pour que les Haïtiens puissent retrouver une vie normale. C'est pourquoi les dessinateurs de p
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resse et de bandes dessinées se sont mobilisés en réalisant ces 100 illustrations. En partenariat avec Le Monde, Radio France et l'association Cartooning for Peace, les Editions Casterman reverseront l'intégralité des profits de ce livre à la Fondation de France. Cette dernière se chargera de répartir les fonds entre les différents projets concrets sur place pour venir en aide aux victimes du tremblement de terre de la Perle des Caraïbes."
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"The traditional disaster-response system employed by relief actors in Haiti concentrated on enabling information-sharing among teams of responders from the international community. This system lacked the ability to aggregate and prioritize data that came from outside sources, making it difficult to
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benefit from valuable information coming from the Haitian community. Ushahidi, an open-source crisis-mapping software first developed and used in Kenya, provided a way to capture, organize, and share critical information coming directly from Haitians. Information was gathered through social media (e.g., blogs, Twitter, and Facebook) and text messages sent via mobile phones. Reports about trapped persons, medical emergencies, and specific needs, such as food, water, and shelter, were received and plotted on maps that were updated in real time by an international group of volunteers. These reports, and associated geographic information, were available to anyone with an Internet connection. Responders on the ground soon began to use them in determining how, when, and where to direct resources. The most significant challenges arose in verifying and triaging the large volume of reports received. Ad hoc but sufficient solutions were found that involved the manual monitoring and sorting of information. The Ushahidi-Haiti Project demonstrated the potential of crowdsourced maps for targeted disaster response, providing a useful foundational model for the international community to leverage and improve upon in advance of future emergencies." (Summary)
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