What is risk communications?

Risk communication is the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions

between experts or officials and people who face a threat (from a hazard) to their
survival, health or economic or social wellbeing.

The purpose of risk communication is to enable people at risk to make informed

decisions to mitigate the effects of a threat (hazard) – such as a disease outbreak – and
take protective and preventive measures.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/risk-communications

Risk communication in disasters aims to prevent and mitigate harm from disasters,
prepare the population before a disaster, disseminate information during disasters and
aid subsequent recovery.

Risk communication aims to provide the public with information about the effects of an
event, and how actions may affect the outcome of the event. 4 

Risk communication is the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions

between experts, community leaders, officials and the people who are at risk and is an
integral part of any emergency response. In epidemics and pandemics, in humanitarian
crises and natural disasters, effective risk communication allows people at risk to
understand and adopt protective behaviours. It allows authorities and experts to listen to
and address people’s concerns and needs so that the advice they provide is relevant,
trusted and acceptable (WHO, 2017).

Risk communication is an important component of disaster risk management (DRM)

because it shapes people’s perceptions of risk and influences their actions with respect
to disaster preparedness and disaster response. It also influences the intervention
decisions that are made throughout the disaster management cycle.
A disaster is a “serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society
involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts,
which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own
resources.”

Disaster risk communication may take place through many different channels, including
some that have been recently developed or expanded. Potential channels of
communication include face-to face conversations, telephone calls, group meetings,
mass media such as television, tailored mass media such as reverse 911 services and
interactive social media such as Twitter.

The Crisis Communication Lifecycle

CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Communication Lifecycle

identifies the types of information that need to be delivered during different phases of an
emergency.
Emergency communicators must:

 Recognize that all audiences are likely to experience all five stages, although
individuals may go through the CERC Communication Lifecycle at different
paces.
 Adapt messaging to address audiences who are in different stages.
 Always listen to stakeholders for feedback to inform and adapt messages that
can better meet communications needs as they constantly change.
 Know that as a crisis progresses, it may also move back a stage. Much like an
earthquake will have aftershocks, new information can sometimes shake a
response from the maintenance phase back to the confusion of the initial phase.