What information do people use, trust, and find useful during a disaster? Evidence from five large wildfires

Toddi A. Steelman; Sarah M. McCaffrey; Anne-Lise Knox Velez; Jason Alexander Briefel

doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1512-x

Treesearch

What information do people use, trust, and find useful during a disaster? Evidence from five large wildfires

Formally Refereed

Authors:

Toddi A. Steelman, Sarah M. McCaffrey, Anne-Lise Knox Velez, Jason Alexander Briefel

Year:

2015

Type:

Scientific Journal

Station:

Northern Research Station

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1512-x

Source:

Natural Hazards. 76(1): 615-634.

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Abstract

The communication system through which information flows during a disaster can be conceived of as a set of relationships among sources and recipients who are concerned about key information characteristics. The recipient perspective is often neglected within this system. In this article, we explore recipient perspectives related to what information was used, useful, and trustworthy in a wildfire context. Using a survey (n = 873) on five large wildfires in 2009 and 2010, we found significant gaps between the sources that were used by the most respondents and those that that they rated as useful or trustworthy. The sources that were used most before the fires were highly correlated with the sources that were used most during the fire.

Keywords

Public information, Communication, Used, Useful, Trustworthy

Citation

Steelman, Toddi A.; McCaffrey, Sarah M.; Velez, Anne-Lise Knox; Briefel, Jason Alexander. 2015. What information do people use, trust, and find useful during a disaster? Evidence from five large wildfires. Natural Hazards. 76(1): 615-634.