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

2011年2月22日发生在新西兰克赖斯特彻奇的地震，是2010年9月更大地震的余震，对一个与美国大都市社区人口特征相似的现代城市造成了重大的基础设施和经济破坏，以及生命损失。在地震发生后的几天和几周内，采用了各种风险沟通战略，以接触到受持续余震影响的个人，包括在线联网沟通。通过收集关于在地震后这一关键时期获取和使用在线信息的数据，该项目将增进对影响灾后应对和复原能力的信息和通信能力的了解。具体而言，该项目审查了对在线通信的依赖对个人应对能力和社区恢复的影响，以及对直接受灾害影响的人中联网在线通信的作用。这些问题将通过一系列焦点小组和受灾地区的住户调查进行审查。智力优势：这项研究将解决以下关键问题：灾害中的信息获取；利用联网的在线技术进行危机沟通的有效性；以及信息获取与受灾人口的复原力之间的联系。由于这项研究将包括受灾社区的代表性样本，而不仅仅是使用社交媒体的技术用户，因此它将对“危机信息学”的文献做出实质性贡献。它还将为信息获取对大城市地区社区复原力认知的影响贡献知识，与灾害中通信能力的变化有关。更广泛的影响：该项目将解决网络通信及其缺失对应对灾难后的影响，并有可能为地方、州和国家各级的政策提供信息，并提高美国社区的复原力。该项目的成果将包括书面报告、同行评议的文章，以及向包括美国自然灾害研讨会在内的多个受众进行的演示。这项研究还将为代表不足的STEM群体中的一名研究人员提供支持。

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.