12,385 The Communications Initiative, The Drum Beat, Disasters and Communication – Nepal and other emergencies

Disasters and Emergencies – Communication Resources and Support

Greetings Octavio

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the Nepal earthquake and to the Nepalese people and all those supporting them as they work in the most difficult of situations to recover.

In support of that recovery, below are links to resources related to communications in disaster situations and their aftermath. These include lessons learned from previous crises, such as the Haiti earthquake (2010), Typhoon Haiyan (2013), and the Tsunami (2004).

The CDAC Network has put together a lessons learned document: What Do We Know about Communicating with Communities Following an Earthquake? – the summary is here with a link to the full resource should this be of interest. Strategies are outlined for early communication processes when events such as the earthquake in Nepal take place. These include communication work such as the following specific to an earthquake:

1. Family reunification – how to contact and find family members
2. Guidance on shelter, as people are afraid to go back into damaged houses
3. Dead body management (countering rumours such as dead bodies don’t spread diseases)
4. Later work on: personal documentation, property deeds, compensation, death certificates and other legal issues.
5. Localised information.

BBC Media Action has started an appeal in support of providing the vulnerable communities in Nepal with information on emergency services and advice on living amidst disaster and working towards recovery including through its Lifeline communication programming with crisis-affected people.

Other relevant resources follow. As is The CI pattern, these are summaries for your quick review. There are links to the full documents and contact people should any of these be of particular interest:

1. Communication and Complex Emergencies: A Resource Guide
2. Improving Communication Between Aid Agencies and Crisis-affected People: Lessons from the Infoasaid Project
3. Disaster-affected communities are and should be the architects of their own recovery, not merely passive recipients of international goodwill (Blog)
4. Crowdsourcing Crisis Information in Disaster-Affected Haiti
5. Hashtag Standards for Emergencies
6. The Drum Beat 666 – Journalists and Crisis: Strategies and Resources
7. Communicating During Disasters: Examining the Relationship between Humanitarian Organizations and Local Media
8. Mobile Technology in Emergencies
9. Emergency Media Standby Kits
10. Communicating with Communities: A Case Study and Guide from Pakistan and Elsewhere

This is a small selection only. There are many more resources available including, for example, searches for these terms, with further filtering available – e.g. for country – in the right margin at these links:

Earthquake – click this link

For example: What Do We Know about Communicating with Communities Following an Earthquake?

Disaster – click this link

For example: A Vision for the Humanitarian Use of Emerging Technology for Emerging Needs

Emergency – click this link

For example: Communication and Complex Emergencies: A Resource Guide

These are very difficult days in Nepal. Disasters can, of course, strike any community or country at any time. It is important to gather and share knowledge and insight on how best to communicate in disaster situations. We very much hope that the above are helpful and supportive both for those of you directly involved in Nepal today and for future similar situations.

Please do send an email to me with information on any programmes, resources, strategies and evaluations related to emergencies and disasters that you wish to share in support of everyone’s efforts on these very difficult issues and challenges.

With much love and strength to everyone involved,

Warren

Warren Feek
Executive Director
The Communication Initiative
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