curtin university of technology
#DISASTER: SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED HOW WE RESPOND WHEN DISASTER STRIKES. On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake thundered through Nepal, killing more than 8000 people and injuring thousands more. As news of the quake filtered in to my Facebook newsfeed, I realised that a friend from high school was in Nepal at the time, and I found myself franticly ringing around to find out if anyone had heard from him, or knew what area of the country he was supposed to be in that day. Around the time that this was unfolding, I was reading the story of Cyclone Tracy, in a book written by Sophie Cunningham. And it got me thinking. We are so lucky to have social media these days when disaster strikes. In 1974, When Tracy ripped through Darwin and destroyed everything in its path, the area was cut off from communication with the outside world. The phone lines were dead, and there was no power. The only way for information to get in or out was in person, and with the roads flooded, washed out or blocked by fallen trees, this was next to impossible for quite a while. Survivors interviewed in Cunningham’s book reported feeling abandoned and forgotten by the rest of the country in those first days. There was just no way for them to know that the rest of Australia were mourning with them. If only they’d had Facebook! Today, there is much less chance of being completely cut off. Even without landline phones and power, our mobiles will almost always still work, at least until the batteries die. The aftermath of Yasi, a category 5 storm that devastated far-north Queensland in February 2011 with just as much force as Tracy (although, thankfully, with a much lower death toll), was remarkably different. Physically isolated Queenslanders were able to reach out to family and friends through social media and text messages, and the entire nation grieved as we watched 24-hour rolling news coverage on all of the major television stations.
The path of Tropical Cyclone Yasi. (Image Credit: Bureau of Meteorology)
I had family in Townsville, right in the middle of the path Yasi was expected to take as it crossed the coast. I laid in bed the night before, mobile phone in hand, and rather than sleep I spent the night continually refreshing my Facebook newsfeed, waiting to see that they would make it through the night. Mid-morning, finally, the update I’d been waiting for from my sister-in-law came through. They were safe. Wet, tired, and shaken up, but safe all the same. There was half a metre of water flowing through the ground story of their house and there was no power and no fixed line telephones, but they did have the internet on their smartphones. At least until the batteries died. Back in 1974 though, the internet was science fiction. There wasn’t even mobile phones that might have helped them communicate with the outside world. Say what you will about the pitfalls of social media, but when it comes to disaster recovery, it certainly seems to have its merits! Less than three weeks later, I was again glued to my phone awaiting updates on a disaster. This time it was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which turned the New Zealand city of Christchurch into a pile of rubble. My best friend was a Christchurch local. She wasn’t replying to the six-million text messages I’d sent when I heard the news, which I later discovered was because her phone was missing somewhere amongst the rubble that was once her house. But with the help of her neighbours she was able to get word out on Facebook that she was alive. She wasn’t alone: Facebook and Twitter were inundated with updates from locals and desperate searches from family and friends. Anecdotally, I can see the impact that social media has had on our reaction in an emergency. I have my own stories, and those of friends and family, and I can tell you without a doubt that if not for Facebook and Twitter (although mostly Facebook in my 2
case), the aftermath of Yasi, Christchurch and Nepal would have been much darker, much scarier, and much, much more stressful for all of us. But anecdotes aren’t enough for the inquisitive mind. Which is why I wanted to do some more reading, to see if the rest of the world saw what I was seeing. In 2013, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies published the World Disasters Report 2013 that, among other things, took an in-depth look at the part that social media had to play in disaster response. The report discusses a number of recent disaster situations and the role social media played before, during, and after the event. “Technology is changing how humanitarian disasters are prepared for, responded to, and recovered from. More importantly, it is changing how local communities, who inevitably are the first responders, react and improve their actions. Both the directly affected populations and the institutions that pledge to support them are finding new ways to connect, enabling them to better attempt to prevent catastrophes, save lives, and rebuild communities.” (World Disasters Report 2013 pg. 45) Interesting, was this what I was seeing in “real life”? Ekant Veer, a lecturer at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, was following the use of social media at the time of the 2011 quake. What he saw was that as well as using social media to inform each other of services that were available in the area, there was also a massive outpouring of support. He said: “social media has a very functional purpose, but beyond that it’s also become extremely valuable for keeping a community together and bringing people together.”
Facebook update from Optus following Cyclone Yasi
3
Perhaps one of the most telling examples though for me, was the response of Queensland Police and other local emergency services during Cyclone Yasi and the 2011 floods. Queensland Police were later labelled as “one of the most cyber savvy forces in the world” after they created hashtags and did their best to bring the people affected the news and information they needed, faster and far more effectively, than the traditional news services.
Facebook update from Queensland Police during Cyclone Yasi
One of the best tools that social media users have at their fingertips in an unfolding emergency is the hashtag, which Queensland Police have deservingly been applauded for using. Hashtags allow users to search Facebook and Twitter (and an ever-growing host of other social media platforms) for content related to a specific topic. #TCYasi, #EQNZ, and more recently, #NepalEarthquake are small additions to tweets and status update, but when used effectively they can streamline communication and allow users to quickly find the information they need in a timely manner. And while popular hashtags come and go, they remain forever in the abyss that is the internet. Four years after Yasi hit, I was able today to search #TCYasi and find a plethora of updates to assist with my research.
4
The rise and fall of #NepalEarthquake, showing the spike of usage following the second quake. (Image credit: Topsy Labs)
Thomas Tudehope, director of strategy and engagement for social media monitoring company SR7, spoke in the days following Yasi about the impact he saw from social media. He was also complimentary to the Queensland Police force, saying, “Queensland Police have pioneered the use of social media in times of crisis. Updates on social media have been timely, accurate and sought to direct information to those most in need.” Social media marketing specialist Chris Pahor compared the growth of fans of Queensland Police Service and The Courier Mail during the 2011 Brisbane Floods and Cyclone Yasi. He said: “The perfect channel really is social media. It’s extremely immediate, uncluttered, and you can engage it with questions that are specifically relative to your situation. For a government service like the Queensland Police Media to step up to this situation and provide such a useful feed of information is brilliant. No PR-filtered press releases, just relevant, humanised messages delivered fast to a highly engaged market.”
5
Comparison of Facebook fans for Queensland Police Service and The Courier Mail during the Brisbane Floods and Cyclone Yasi. (Image credit: Chris Pahor)
These examples certainly seem to support what the Red Cross report found. Emergency services are changing how they respond during challenging times. They are embracing social media as an important tool to get the information out to the people. And the people are listening. With all of this history building to show social media triumphing during a crisis, it should come as no surprise then that locals in Nepal and those worried about loved ones turned to their preferred social media outlets when the quake struck. Twitter proved to be a major source of timely updates in the days following the earthquake, with residents tweeting and retweeting any information they could find.
A tweet shared following the Nepal earthquake (original post here)
6
In addition to the constantly updating Twitter feeds (using #NepalQuake, #NepalEarthquake and/or #Kathmandu), Google also activated a person finder tool that they have been using periodically since the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. Person finder allows those in Nepal to “check in” and effectively mark themselves as safe, as well as giving concerned family and friends the chance to mark someone as missing. Facebook quickly followed with their own version, which automatically sent a message to all users whose GPS data listed them in the affected area, asking them to update their safety status. Almost six hours after my frantic search for information started, my missing friend in Nepal posted an update on his Facebook page. He was safe and helping in one of the many emergency shelters quickly set up in his area. As the days went on, more and more stories surfaced of those caught up in the devastation contacting their families through Facebook and Twitter. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that social media does have its strengths. Especially, it seems, when our world is #crumbling around us.
7
References: Brophy-Williams, Sam, Jesse Hardman, Jennifer Leaning, Patrick Meier, Gisli Olafsson, Phuong N. Pham, Jacobo Quintanilla, Kristin Bergatora Sandvick, and Nic Segaren. World Disasters Report 2013: Focus on Technology and the Future of Humanitarian Action. Rep. Switzerland: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2013. Print. Bureau of Meteorology. Track and Intensity Information for Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Digital image. Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Commonwealth of Australia, n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. Clark, Liat. “Facebook and Google Launch People Finder Tools for Nepal Earthquake.” Wired. Conde Nast Digital, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 May 2015. Cunningham, Sophie. “Does Anybody Know This has Happened to us?” Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy. Melbourne: Tex Publishing, 2014. 81-91. Print. Dixit, Kunda (@kundadixit). “That swarm of aftershocks around #Kathmandu in last 20 hours is alarming. #NepalQuake @USGS.” 25 Apr. 2015. 29 May 2015 9.37 pm. Tweet. Gallo, Lee-Marie. “In Disaster, Twitter and Facebook Become Tools of Hope, Information and Despair.” Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 May 2015. “Keep Connected via Social Media During Storms and Cyclones in Cairns.” The Cairns Post. News Corp., 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Mathewson, Nicole. “Social Media Excels After Quakes.” Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Moses, Asher and Louisa Hearn. “Cyclone Yasi Destruction Brought Home on Facebook, Twitter.” Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 3 Feb. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Murtagh, Rebecca. “The Role of #Hashtags in Social Media and Search.” Search Engine Watch. Click Z Group, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 May 2015. Noubel, Filip. “Social Media Becomes a Lifeline in the Nepal Earthquake Aftermath.” Global Voices. 26 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 May 2015. Pahor, Chris. “Queensland Police Helps Us Stay Above Water.” Traffica. 4 Feb. 2011. Web. 29 May 2015. “Person Finder: 2015 Nepal Earthquake.” Google. n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. Queensland Police Service. “Severe weather warning for abnormally high tides, dangerous surf near the coast from Sarina to the Sunshine Coast. #TCYasi.” Facebook. 3 Feb. 2011. 29 May 2015. https://www.facebook.com/QueenslandPolice?fref=ts
8
Optus. “Our network engeneers had a busy weekend and restored more than 20 mobile base stations over the weekend, returning service to Innisfail, Tully & Ingham. The majority of the mobile network is now also operational in Cairns, Ayr, Townsville and Magnetic Island.” Facebook. 7 Feb. 2011. 29 May 2015. https://www.facebook.com/optus?fref=ts “Tweets per day: #NepalEarthquake April 29th – May 28th.” Topsy Labs, n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. http://topsy.com/analytics?q1=%23NepalEarthquake&via=Topsy
9
The path of Tropical Cyclone Yasi. (Image Credit: Bureau of Meteorology)
I had family in Townsville, right in the middle of the path Yasi was expected to take as it crossed the coast. I laid in bed the night before, mobile phone in hand, and rather than sleep I spent the night continually refreshing my Facebook newsfeed, waiting to see that they would make it through the night. Mid-morning, finally, the update I’d been waiting for from my sister-in-law came through. They were safe. Wet, tired, and shaken up, but safe all the same. There was half a metre of water flowing through the ground story of their house and there was no power and no fixed line telephones, but they did have the internet on their smartphones. At least until the batteries died. Back in 1974 though, the internet was science fiction. There wasn’t even mobile phones that might have helped them communicate with the outside world. Say what you will about the pitfalls of social media, but when it comes to disaster recovery, it certainly seems to have its merits! Less than three weeks later, I was again glued to my phone awaiting updates on a disaster. This time it was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which turned the New Zealand city of Christchurch into a pile of rubble. My best friend was a Christchurch local. She wasn’t replying to the six-million text messages I’d sent when I heard the news, which I later discovered was because her phone was missing somewhere amongst the rubble that was once her house. But with the help of her neighbours she was able to get word out on Facebook that she was alive. She wasn’t alone: Facebook and Twitter were inundated with updates from locals and desperate searches from family and friends. Anecdotally, I can see the impact that social media has had on our reaction in an emergency. I have my own stories, and those of friends and family, and I can tell you without a doubt that if not for Facebook and Twitter (although mostly Facebook in my 2
case), the aftermath of Yasi, Christchurch and Nepal would have been much darker, much scarier, and much, much more stressful for all of us. But anecdotes aren’t enough for the inquisitive mind. Which is why I wanted to do some more reading, to see if the rest of the world saw what I was seeing. In 2013, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies published the World Disasters Report 2013 that, among other things, took an in-depth look at the part that social media had to play in disaster response. The report discusses a number of recent disaster situations and the role social media played before, during, and after the event. “Technology is changing how humanitarian disasters are prepared for, responded to, and recovered from. More importantly, it is changing how local communities, who inevitably are the first responders, react and improve their actions. Both the directly affected populations and the institutions that pledge to support them are finding new ways to connect, enabling them to better attempt to prevent catastrophes, save lives, and rebuild communities.” (World Disasters Report 2013 pg. 45) Interesting, was this what I was seeing in “real life”? Ekant Veer, a lecturer at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, was following the use of social media at the time of the 2011 quake. What he saw was that as well as using social media to inform each other of services that were available in the area, there was also a massive outpouring of support. He said: “social media has a very functional purpose, but beyond that it’s also become extremely valuable for keeping a community together and bringing people together.”
Facebook update from Optus following Cyclone Yasi
3
Perhaps one of the most telling examples though for me, was the response of Queensland Police and other local emergency services during Cyclone Yasi and the 2011 floods. Queensland Police were later labelled as “one of the most cyber savvy forces in the world” after they created hashtags and did their best to bring the people affected the news and information they needed, faster and far more effectively, than the traditional news services.
Facebook update from Queensland Police during Cyclone Yasi
One of the best tools that social media users have at their fingertips in an unfolding emergency is the hashtag, which Queensland Police have deservingly been applauded for using. Hashtags allow users to search Facebook and Twitter (and an ever-growing host of other social media platforms) for content related to a specific topic. #TCYasi, #EQNZ, and more recently, #NepalEarthquake are small additions to tweets and status update, but when used effectively they can streamline communication and allow users to quickly find the information they need in a timely manner. And while popular hashtags come and go, they remain forever in the abyss that is the internet. Four years after Yasi hit, I was able today to search #TCYasi and find a plethora of updates to assist with my research.
4
The rise and fall of #NepalEarthquake, showing the spike of usage following the second quake. (Image credit: Topsy Labs)
Thomas Tudehope, director of strategy and engagement for social media monitoring company SR7, spoke in the days following Yasi about the impact he saw from social media. He was also complimentary to the Queensland Police force, saying, “Queensland Police have pioneered the use of social media in times of crisis. Updates on social media have been timely, accurate and sought to direct information to those most in need.” Social media marketing specialist Chris Pahor compared the growth of fans of Queensland Police Service and The Courier Mail during the 2011 Brisbane Floods and Cyclone Yasi. He said: “The perfect channel really is social media. It’s extremely immediate, uncluttered, and you can engage it with questions that are specifically relative to your situation. For a government service like the Queensland Police Media to step up to this situation and provide such a useful feed of information is brilliant. No PR-filtered press releases, just relevant, humanised messages delivered fast to a highly engaged market.”
5
Comparison of Facebook fans for Queensland Police Service and The Courier Mail during the Brisbane Floods and Cyclone Yasi. (Image credit: Chris Pahor)
These examples certainly seem to support what the Red Cross report found. Emergency services are changing how they respond during challenging times. They are embracing social media as an important tool to get the information out to the people. And the people are listening. With all of this history building to show social media triumphing during a crisis, it should come as no surprise then that locals in Nepal and those worried about loved ones turned to their preferred social media outlets when the quake struck. Twitter proved to be a major source of timely updates in the days following the earthquake, with residents tweeting and retweeting any information they could find.
A tweet shared following the Nepal earthquake (original post here)
6
In addition to the constantly updating Twitter feeds (using #NepalQuake, #NepalEarthquake and/or #Kathmandu), Google also activated a person finder tool that they have been using periodically since the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. Person finder allows those in Nepal to “check in” and effectively mark themselves as safe, as well as giving concerned family and friends the chance to mark someone as missing. Facebook quickly followed with their own version, which automatically sent a message to all users whose GPS data listed them in the affected area, asking them to update their safety status. Almost six hours after my frantic search for information started, my missing friend in Nepal posted an update on his Facebook page. He was safe and helping in one of the many emergency shelters quickly set up in his area. As the days went on, more and more stories surfaced of those caught up in the devastation contacting their families through Facebook and Twitter. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that social media does have its strengths. Especially, it seems, when our world is #crumbling around us.
7
References: Brophy-Williams, Sam, Jesse Hardman, Jennifer Leaning, Patrick Meier, Gisli Olafsson, Phuong N. Pham, Jacobo Quintanilla, Kristin Bergatora Sandvick, and Nic Segaren. World Disasters Report 2013: Focus on Technology and the Future of Humanitarian Action. Rep. Switzerland: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2013. Print. Bureau of Meteorology. Track and Intensity Information for Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Digital image. Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Commonwealth of Australia, n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. Clark, Liat. “Facebook and Google Launch People Finder Tools for Nepal Earthquake.” Wired. Conde Nast Digital, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 May 2015. Cunningham, Sophie. “Does Anybody Know This has Happened to us?” Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy. Melbourne: Tex Publishing, 2014. 81-91. Print. Dixit, Kunda (@kundadixit). “That swarm of aftershocks around #Kathmandu in last 20 hours is alarming. #NepalQuake @USGS.” 25 Apr. 2015. 29 May 2015 9.37 pm. Tweet. Gallo, Lee-Marie. “In Disaster, Twitter and Facebook Become Tools of Hope, Information and Despair.” Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 May 2015. “Keep Connected via Social Media During Storms and Cyclones in Cairns.” The Cairns Post. News Corp., 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Mathewson, Nicole. “Social Media Excels After Quakes.” Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Moses, Asher and Louisa Hearn. “Cyclone Yasi Destruction Brought Home on Facebook, Twitter.” Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 3 Feb. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Murtagh, Rebecca. “The Role of #Hashtags in Social Media and Search.” Search Engine Watch. Click Z Group, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 May 2015. Noubel, Filip. “Social Media Becomes a Lifeline in the Nepal Earthquake Aftermath.” Global Voices. 26 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 May 2015. Pahor, Chris. “Queensland Police Helps Us Stay Above Water.” Traffica. 4 Feb. 2011. Web. 29 May 2015. “Person Finder: 2015 Nepal Earthquake.” Google. n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. Queensland Police Service. “Severe weather warning for abnormally high tides, dangerous surf near the coast from Sarina to the Sunshine Coast. #TCYasi.” Facebook. 3 Feb. 2011. 29 May 2015. https://www.facebook.com/QueenslandPolice?fref=ts
8
Optus. “Our network engeneers had a busy weekend and restored more than 20 mobile base stations over the weekend, returning service to Innisfail, Tully & Ingham. The majority of the mobile network is now also operational in Cairns, Ayr, Townsville and Magnetic Island.” Facebook. 7 Feb. 2011. 29 May 2015. https://www.facebook.com/optus?fref=ts “Tweets per day: #NepalEarthquake April 29th – May 28th.” Topsy Labs, n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. http://topsy.com/analytics?q1=%23NepalEarthquake&via=Topsy
9
