RAPID: When Online is Off: Communicating in Disaster Following the February 22, 2011 Christchurch, NZ Earthquake

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The February 22, 2011 earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand, an aftershock of a larger earthquake in September 2010, caused significant infrastructure and economic damage, and life loss, to a modern city with similar population characteristics as US metropolitan communities. In the days and weeks following the earthquake, various risk communication strategies were utilized to reach individuals affected by the ongoing aftershocks, including online networked communications. By collecting data on access to and use of online information in this critical period following the earthquake, this project will advance knowledge about information and communication capacities as they affect coping and resiliency in the aftermath of disaster. Specifically, the project examines the effects of reliance on online communications on individual coping ability and community recovery, and on the role of networked online communication among those directly affected by disaster. These questions will be examined through a series of focus groups and a household survey in the disaster-affected area. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: This research will address key questions about information access in disaster; the effectiveness of crisis communications using networked online technology; and links between information access and resiliency among disaster-affected populations. It will make substantial contributions to the literature on "crisis informatics" due to the fact that this study will include a representative sample of a disaster affected community rather than just technology users who are utilizing social media. It will also contribute knowledge to the effects of information access on perceptions of community resiliency, in a metropolitan area, linked to shifting communication capacities in disaster. BROADER IMPACTS: The project will address the effect of networked communications, and its absence, on coping post disaster and has the potential to inform policy at the local, state, and national levels and to improve resiliency in U.S. communities. Outcomes from this project will include written reports, peer-reviewed articles, and presentations to a number of audiences including the U.S. Natural Hazards Workshop. This research will also provide support for one researcher from an underrepresented STEM group.