"This article interrogates the simplistic juxtaposition of protectors and protected in South Sudan’s Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites, by asking: who was civilian in South Sudan, and how were civilians being protected? We present a civilian landscape that is much broader and more complex than t
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he dominant PoC imaginary. Drawing attention to civilians who engage in professional tasks, the article considers the everyday practices of humanitarians and journalists. This illustrates that the category of ‘civilian’ is not the bureaucratic or legal certainty suggested by international law or PoC discourse, but unstable, shifting and constructed through everyday practice." (Abstract)
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"In times of emergency, finding reliable information online can be challenging. This guide offers practical advice to help you identify trustworthy information and avoid misinformation. By asking the right questions and using the tools provided, you can make informed decisions even during a crisis."
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(Introduction)
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"This report explores the importance of a robust Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) in Nigeria and the need for effective communication to ameliorate the loss and damage caused by flooding. Following Nigeria’s Floods of 2022, which resulted in over 600 lives lost, 3000 injured, 300 thousand hectare
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s of farmlands wiped out and 200,000 houses damaged, and two million people displaced across 20 states in Nigeria, as reported by Premium Times, it is imperative that focus be given to strategies to adapt and prepare for future flood events which are expected to be worse in order to limit the damage caused. However, Nigeria has faced challenges in effectively communicating and preventing the impacts of floods due to poor FEWS communication. The article emphasizes that an early warning system is crucial for building resilience and reducing the impacts of climate-related disasters. By informing citizens about potential and imminent extreme events, governments and stakeholders can save lives, protect infrastructure, and support long-term sustainability. However, developing countries like Nigeria face difficulties in implementing and communicating FEWS due to technical limitations and insufficient infrastructure [...] To address these challenges, the article proposes framing FEWS communication as political communication in Nigeria. It suggests involving popular politicians as information bearers across states and local governments, who can act as climate champions and effectively disseminate early warning messages to the public. This approach leverages the popularity and influence of political figures to enhance FEWS communication and increase climate resilience among the population." (Forward, page 3)
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"Videos are commonly used by emergency services agencies in natural hazard emergencies to communicate to the public about the hazard, its possible risks, and to promote protective action. To evaluate the efficacy of the videos being disseminated and amplified during an event, this research examined
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the extent to which different types of videos trigger risk perceptions, promote protective action, and improve knowledge about the hazard and impact. The findings suggest a video containing a smaller number of facts is most useful at impacting the public’s hazard knowledge, visualisations (real-life or infographics) of facts helps improve knowledge, and videos highlighting the impact an emergency is having (or had) through people’s experiences helped improve hazard knowledge, risk perceptions, and protective action intentions. Finally, while footage of a bushfire triggers threat perceptions and some coping appraisal, the style is not as useful for building hazard knowledge. The research extends visual risk literacy knowledge and offers practical guidance for agencies operating in high-risk environments seeking to achieve behavioural compliance. The research argues videos will continue to be an important tool in the public information and warning milieu for any risk event." (Abstract)
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"Measuring disaster resilience from the perspective of long-term recovery ability is important for the planning and construction of urban sustainability, whereas short-term resilient recovery can better reflect a city’s ability to recover quickly after a disaster occurs. This study proposes an ana
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lytical framework for urban disaster recovery and resilience based on social media data that can analyze short-term disaster recovery and assess disaster resilience from the perspectives of infrastructure and people’s psychological states. We consider the downpour in Henan, China, in July 2021. The results show that (1) social media data can effectively reflect short-term disaster recovery, (2) disaster resilience can be assessed using social media data combined with rainfall and damage data, and (3) the framework can quantitatively reflect the differences in disaster recovery and resilience across regions. The findings can facilitate better decision-making in disaster emergency management for precise and effective post-disaster reconstruction and psychological intervention, and provide references for cities to improve disaster resilience." (Abstract)
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"Gaza has experienced five near-total communications blackouts since since 7 October 2023.1 People cannot access critical information. They cannot reach loved ones. Aid agencies cannot contact staff or coordinate assistance. Media coverage and documentation is further restricted." (Page 1)
"Esta guía para medios de comunicación tiene como objetivo ofrecer herramientas y recursos de información para comunicar emergencias y situaciones de esta magnitud con perspectiva de género, de manera incluyente y no sexista, en temas y problemáticas que afectan de manera sustancial y diferenci
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ada a niñas y mujeres. También, busca que las personas que trabajan en los medios se comprometan a promover y trabajar para transformar las narrativas periodísticas de contenido sobre violencia contra mujeres y niñas, y otros temas clave de sus vidas." (Introducción, página 8)
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"This study sought to identify changes, if any, to the communication and community engagement landscape as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It did not aim to evaluate communication, community engagement and accountability (CCEA) during the pandemic but, rather, aimed to bring together some of the
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key literature, recommend additional reading and reflect on the perspectives of different stakeholders. In addition to a thorough literature review, the study represents the views of approximately 150 community-based participants of focus group discussions, 44 key informants and 181 global survey respondents. For some, the shift to remote ways of working led to an increase in digital access and reach, while for others this complicated existing communication channels and deepened the digital divide. Principally, this report finds that very little has changed in the CCEA landscape, a conclusion nuanced heavily by contextual differences within and between communities, and between countries." (Executive Summary, page 5)
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"Recent years have seen the expansion of critical scholarship on humanitarian communication across a range of academic fields, sharing recognition of the centrality of media and communications to our understanding of humanitarianism as an agent of transnational power, global governance and cosmopoli
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tan solidarity. The Handbook brings into dialogue these diverse fields, their theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches as well as the public debates that lie at the heart of the contemporary politics of humanitarianism. It consolidates existing knowledge and maps out this emerging field as an important site of interdisciplinary knowledge production on media, communication and humanitarianism." (Publisher description)
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