amity university Jharkhand

A REPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND DISASTER : EHNACING

PANIC OR PREVENTING RISKS?( PROS and CONS )

PREPARED BY – SUBMITTED TO-

ABHINAV KUMAR RAJA Mr. SUDHIR KUMAR
BA (J& MC) PROFESSOR
A35679817025
CONTENT

o CHAPTER – 1
o ABSTACT
o INTRODUCTION
 ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN DISASTERS
 PROS and CONS
o CHAPTER – 2
o METHODOLOGY
o CHAPTER – 3
o CONCLUSION
o BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Bonafide certificate

This is to certify that the report entitled “Social media and disaster:
enhancing panic or reducing risks? ( Pros and Cons)” is a bonafide
research work carried out by ABHINAV KUMAR RAJA , which is
submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of BA (J& MC) in
AMITY UNIVERSITY.

DATE – PROF. RASHID IQBAL

 DECLARATION

This is to certify that I Abhinav kumar Raja, a student of BA (J & MC)5th

semester (2017-2020), Amity University Ranchi, Jharkhand has worked under
the guidance and supervision of Prof. SUDHIR KUMAR .

This project report has the requisite standard for the partial fulfillment in under
graduate degree in BA (J & MC) .To the best of my knowledge no part of this
project has been copied from any other report and the contents are based on
original research.

Name: Abhinav Kumar Raja

Enrollment no.: A35679817025
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to prof. SUDHIR KUMAR

who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic
demonetization and its effect on Indian economy, which also helped me in doing
a lot of Research and i came to know about so many new things I am really
thankful to him.

Secondly, i would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot
in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
CHAPTER -1

ABSTRACT

This study examines forms of social media use in disaster

management, focusing on volunteer groups and aid organisations. This research
interest emerged from observing several grassroots initiatives using social
media to implement aid activities. Approaches to transforming organisations
through network structures and to developing community building are applied
to the field of disaster management. The aim is to investigate if collective
actions via social media can lead to the development of virtual (aid)
communities, and how these operate. This article presents the trends and patterns
in media and disasters research and the role of the media in disaster risk
management

The results show that social media use in disaster management reflects
the general trend towards a strengthened participation of the population
in public communication. Social media can, however, only be part of a more
comprehensive strategy necessary for disaster response and early warning.

Social media applications have proven to be a dependable communication

channel even when traditional methods fail. Their application to emergency
management offers new benefits to the domain. For instance, analysis of
information as the event unfolds may increase situational awareness, news and
alerts may reach larger audiences in less time and decision makers may monitor
public activities as well as coordinate with stakeholders. With such benefits, it
seems the adoption of social media applications to emergency management
should be automatic, however their implementation introduces risks as well. To
better understand the benefits and challenges, a review and analysis of the
literature regarding the application of social media to emergency management
was conducted. Identified research gaps were mapped into social and
technological challenges. These challenges were then analyzed to set research
directions for practitioners and researchers.
 INTRODUCTION

Ways of dealing with natural occurrences should be found to avoid disasters and
minimise human and economic losses. As in many other areas where the
institutionalised system is deficient, grassroots movements arise, which try to
counteract this insufficiency on the macro-level with simple methods on the
micro level. For example, in 2013 in the Philippines a group of doctors and other
volunteers came together to provide aid on the ground. They collected the
necessary donations from their internationally widespread circle of acquaintances
via the social network Facebook. In Germany, several Facebook groups were set
up to deal with the flood, for example to inform the population and to coordinate
volunteers.
Although the circumstances and contributions may be very different, in both
cases, social media were used to provide emergency relief in the broadest sense.
The volunteer groups, and especially the combination of online activities with
offline aid, are the focus of this paper. Their approach is contrasted with the use
of social media by – rather hierarchically
structured – aid organisations.

Role of Social Media in Natural Disasters

Social Media has redefined and revolutionized communication during natural
disasters.In times of natural disasters, people tend to use social media for several
reasons - to check on family and friends, seek support, gather news about the
magnitude of the disaster, daily updates on safe locations and food & water
supplies etc.Apart from improving rescue and relief operations, people can also
use social networking sites to send donations.
Today we have a two-way street—residents and people in general are informed
about hazards on a real time basis and emergency managers receive immediate
feedback on the consequences of a disaster. Twitter Alerts provide an opportunity
to get information directly from trusted sources.

During the 2014 Kashmir floods, an automated SOS service was introduced after
the army and Twitter collaborated for rescue operations. This is consideredas one
of the largest after-disaster campaigns in the recent past. Facebook , in times of
disasters and attacks, enables users close to the site of the disaster to mark
themselves safe and notify their friends. Besides this, Safety Check also urges
other users to indicate when people they know are safe.

The US-based Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stated in its

2013 National Preparedness Report that during and after Hurricane Sandy, users
sent more than 20 million Sandy-related Twitter posts with the help of
broadband networks.

New Jersey’s largest utility company, PSE&G, said that during Sandy they
updated their Twitter feeds and used them to send information about the daily
locations of their tents and generators.

Thus, the creative use of social mediahas helped save several lives.
Pros and Cons of Social Media Before, During and After a
Crisis

 Social media advantages for crisis communications

o Before a disaster affecting the public strikes, social media provides

organizations with a powerful tool for building trust among people who
use social media by developing constructive dialogues in social media
communities. Emergency managers in particular are thus able to establish
their social media presence as a go-to source for authoritative public
information during a natural disaster.
o Reinforces crisis alerts being sent to the public through traditional routes,
e.g., sirens and traditional media, while simultaneously fostering public
feedback.
o Regular monitoring of social media can help serve as an early-warning
system for helping first responders identify pending disasters.
o Enables monitoring of timely reports from the public as well as general
public opinion before, during and after a crisis.
o Offers an additional way to track the course of a disaster and the
effectiveness of the response as perceived by the public
o Another way to assess recovery progress in the wake of a disaster.
o A wide variety of social media platforms are available, each having its own
characteristics, e.g., short messages (Twitter), long messages and multi-
media (Facebook), video (YouTube), photo sharing (Flickr). Software is
available that can help sort through data and support human evaluators.

 Social media disadvantages for crisis communications

o Unauthorized or inept use of the social media platform by the
organization’s personnel could be damaging to credibility and ability to
earn trust. Effective use of social media requires a commitment to
policies and resources.
o Many segments of the public, (e.g., elderly and infirm, economically
disadvantaged, non-English speakers, etc.) do not typically use social
media. Other communications channels, including, for example, door-to-
door personal meetings, may be necessary in such cases.
o Information gathered from social media users may be inaccurate. Hoaxes
are prevalent. Information gathered that seems critical to public safety
requires careful confirmation.
o Requires increased human resources to properly monitor social media,
assess it and respond appropriately. Individuals of the organization may
not know procedures for flagging and reporting pertinent information
gleaned from social media. Training may be necessary.
o The public’s views on the disaster and the response to it could be
erroneous. Immediate corrections, necessitating a commitment of
communications resources, may be necessary.
o Social media can also fan negative public opinions about the way first
responders managed the disaster, possibly creating a post-disaster public
relations crisis.
o Multiple channels can overwhelm those tasked with monitoring social
media.

CHAPTER -2

METHODOLOGY
The present study is descriptive in nature. It uses descriptive analytical approach
based on authentic secondary data taken from various government reports,
newspapers, websites, research papers, journals etc.

This paper aims to explore the potential of Social Media in Australian natural
disaster management. During disaster management process, interactions
involving disaster management agencies and communities are examined in this
paper. It is further discussed that the disaster management agencies and the
communities have their specific functional needs to interact with each other
during various phases of disaster management process. Moreover, the role of
communication media during mitigation, response and recovery phases is also
reported in the above sections. While the significance of Social Media has been
already conceptualized and reported above, it is equally important to empirically
validate the potential of Social Media in Australian natural disasters. In order to
do so, this research will analyze thedata collected by two methods. The first
method will be the semi-structured interviews that will be conducted with five
disaster management agencies within Australia. The selection of these agencies
will be intended to get a good mix of cases based on their expertise and operations
domains. The objectives ofthese interviews are as follows: •To explore the
functional needs of disaster management agencies to interact with other agencies
and communities during mitigation, response and recovery phases. •Advantages
and disadvantages of using Social Media by disaster management agencies to
interact with other agencies and communities during mitigation, response and
recovery phases.

Realizing that disasters can be defined as events that impact society, that disaster
management is also information management, and that media coverage can
influence public perception and understanding of disaster risks, we sought an
understanding of its approach in the scientific debate in the last decades.

The literature on disaster and crisis response and the use of social media typically
treats individuals and communities as homogenous. However, there is mounting
arguments that different groups-in particular vulnerable and at-risk groups-often
have unique information needs.

Studies in this stream examine emergency response organizations (EROs) such

as police and fire, government agencies, non- government organizations (NGOs)
and community and volunteer groups. Recent research in this stream
demonstrates how digital technology-in particular social media :

1 -is resulting in porous boundaries between these organizations, challenging the

bureaucratic and top-down logic of coordination and information sharing .With
few exceptions , little research has sought to understand the evolving information
landscape of actors such as EROs and government agencies (who we refer to as
'upstream' actors) and informal organizations such as NGOs, community groups,
local social media networks and private/platform-based organizations (who we
refer to as 'downstream' actors)

2 , as they seek to access and provide information to each other and their
constituent.

CHAPTER 3
 CONCLUSION

To conclude, it is to be said that social media will play an increasingly important

role in disaster management in the future. Nevertheless, it should not be neglected
to force long-term measures. Considering the disaster management cycle, the two
phases of disaster mitigation and disaster response have to be at the centre of
attention. So far, social media have mainly been used in the urgent stages of early
warning (disaster preparation) and relief activities (disaster response). But, social
media have the potential to lead to a growing participation of the population in
strategic planning in mitigation and recovery, e.g., using the feedback function of
social media to gather ideas and opinions from the people (potentially) affected.
The possibilities for the use of social media in the management of natural
disasters are discussed in the paper. A brief overview of natural disasters is given.
The term social media is defined and their basic functions and components are
described. Communication types and the means for their implementation between
participants in natural disaster events are analyzed. Basic guidelines for
organizing information exchange by social media are proposed.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 The HINDU
GOOGLE .COM
WIKIPEDIA
NEWS CHANNELS
MAGAZINES
WIKIPEDIA
PUBLIUSHED ARTICLES
mfe.gov
CLASSROOM LECTURES