Current Issues in Crisis Communication and Alerting

The delicate interplay between official communication, media coverage, and public discussions in social media has to be managed. A consistent communication policy should be implemented, and this consistency has to apply to all actors and communication channels involved. But the challenges do not stop here: authorities also have to reach out to specific groups within the population that have additional information needs. Within this book, we analyze the information needs and media usage patterns of different regional and socio-cultural groups and derive recommendations for authorities on how to address these needs consistently. Furthermore synergies and conflicts between official crisis communication and media coverage in disaster situations is discussed. Finally, technical approaches for alerting the public are presented, and the efficiency of different communication channels is modeled.