• Announcements
  • Contact
  • Español
  • English
CIGIDEN
  • ABOUT US
    • THE CENTER
    • TEAM
    • RESEARCHERS
      • RESEARCHERS
      • SUPPORT STAFF
      • POSTDOCTORAL
    • EXPERT GUIDE 2020
  • RESEARCH
      • L1. Solid Earth Processes and Associated Hazards
      • L2. Surface Water Processes and Associated Hazards
      • L3. Risk and Resilience of Complex Systems and Networks
      • L4. Disaster Cultures and Risk Governance
      • L5. Socio-Economic Assessment of disasters and Mitigation Strategies for Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems
      • L6. Citizen governance
  • SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
      • NEWS
          • CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

            CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

            Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

            Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

            GADRI letter: How will risks and disaster research help us overcome COVID-19?

            GADRI letter: How will risks and disaster research help us overcome COVID-19?

            Researchers identify worst-affected communes by economic risks of COVID-19

            Researchers identify worst-affected communes by economic risks of COVID-19

            Study addresses flash flooding due to extended and heavy rains in Santiago

            Study addresses flash flooding due to extended and heavy rains in Santiago

            Rio Maipo wetland: “Front Line” of protection against extreme waves, storms and tsunamis on the coast

            Rio Maipo wetland: “Front Line” of protection against extreme waves, storms and tsunamis on the coast

      • IN THE MEDIA
          • UC supports chañaral reconstruction: Learn about the contributions the institution has made in Atacama

            UC supports chañaral reconstruction: Learn about the contributions the institution has made in Atacama

      • SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS AND VIDEOS
          • Terremoto en México (en)

            Terremoto en México (en)

      • COLUMNS
          • Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

            Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

            How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

            How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

            Everyone should act as if we already have the virus

            Everyone should act as if we already have the virus

            Tsunami vertical evacuation should be an option in Chile

            Tsunami vertical evacuation should be an option in Chile

            Waterspouts, disasters and ecological culture

            Waterspouts, disasters and ecological culture

            ¡Welcome to Chile Greta!

            ¡Welcome to Chile Greta!

      • VIDEOS
          • No posts found.
      • EXHIBITIONS
          • No posts found.
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • PAPERS
    • BOOKS AND MANUALS
    • POLICY PAPERS
  • AGENDA
    • SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES
    • PANEL DISCUSSIONS
    • LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS
No Result
View All Result
  • ABOUT US
    • THE CENTER
    • TEAM
    • RESEARCHERS
      • RESEARCHERS
      • SUPPORT STAFF
      • POSTDOCTORAL
    • EXPERT GUIDE 2020
  • RESEARCH
      • L1. Solid Earth Processes and Associated Hazards
      • L2. Surface Water Processes and Associated Hazards
      • L3. Risk and Resilience of Complex Systems and Networks
      • L4. Disaster Cultures and Risk Governance
      • L5. Socio-Economic Assessment of disasters and Mitigation Strategies for Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems
      • L6. Citizen governance
  • SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
      • NEWS
          • CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

            CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

            Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

            Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

            GADRI letter: How will risks and disaster research help us overcome COVID-19?

            GADRI letter: How will risks and disaster research help us overcome COVID-19?

            Researchers identify worst-affected communes by economic risks of COVID-19

            Researchers identify worst-affected communes by economic risks of COVID-19

            Study addresses flash flooding due to extended and heavy rains in Santiago

            Study addresses flash flooding due to extended and heavy rains in Santiago

            Rio Maipo wetland: “Front Line” of protection against extreme waves, storms and tsunamis on the coast

            Rio Maipo wetland: “Front Line” of protection against extreme waves, storms and tsunamis on the coast

      • IN THE MEDIA
          • UC supports chañaral reconstruction: Learn about the contributions the institution has made in Atacama

            UC supports chañaral reconstruction: Learn about the contributions the institution has made in Atacama

      • SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS AND VIDEOS
          • Terremoto en México (en)

            Terremoto en México (en)

      • COLUMNS
          • Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

            Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

            How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

            How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

            Everyone should act as if we already have the virus

            Everyone should act as if we already have the virus

            Tsunami vertical evacuation should be an option in Chile

            Tsunami vertical evacuation should be an option in Chile

            Waterspouts, disasters and ecological culture

            Waterspouts, disasters and ecological culture

            ¡Welcome to Chile Greta!

            ¡Welcome to Chile Greta!

      • VIDEOS
          • No posts found.
      • EXHIBITIONS
          • No posts found.
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • PAPERS
    • BOOKS AND MANUALS
    • POLICY PAPERS
  • AGENDA
    • SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES
    • PANEL DISCUSSIONS
    • LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS
No Result
View All Result
CIGIDEN
No Result
View All Result

Tornadoes and communication gaps, citizen barometer for disaster

5 June, 2019
in Columns, Dissemination
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

By Gonzalo Bacigalupe.

Frequent natural hazards, like the tornadoes that recently struck our country, expose not only houses and buildings. They reveal our institutional fragility, our ways of inhabiting the territory and an education that does not engage with the local and scientific knowledge required to prevent, mitigate and be prepared. Not only is our physical environment altered. These events are also a chance to reflect upon our habits concerning the way we get information and communicate during a disaster.

Infrastructure gaps are as important or more important than changes in the way citizens communicate with others and use the information before, during and after an event in which nature seems to reveal itself in our ways of inhabiting it.

In order to design a citizen barometer for disaster, CIGIDEN’s team of researchers explored the way we communicate, citizen perception of risk, hazards and the information they receive and create through both traditional and digital means of communication.

Perhaps the most essential aspect is the key role that private media, such as WhatsApp, play when defining contents related to disasters, natural hazards, their relationship with climate change, among others. The consumption of media such as YouTube and Instagram is also important, especially among the youth.

Television, radio and digital media are still relevant, especially during and after these events. The interpretation thereof, our trust in them and the flow of said information take place through social networks and technologies such as WhatsApp. Young people and adults use it, almost in the same proportion.

In this survey, we found that most people feel prepared to face earthquakes, tsunamis and alluviums, but this seems to be a contradiction.

Although Chileans connected to the networks and the Internet are demanding more and better information about these phenomena, the country does not seem to be prepared for the frequency or intensity of the events that strike us and entail potential hazards.

The survey once again showed that these events are a source of anxiety, stress and sleep disorders. As our mental health researchers suggest, educating ourselves about psychological first aid is key.

A strategy systematized in a manual that can be prepared by all those in contact with affected people, to regain calmness, trust and hope.

Today, the disruption of nature is still deemed as an emergency; despite the scientific consensus, disasters are still referred to as “natural”. Alluviums, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes and tsunamis bring down not only houses and roads, they also reveal the fragility of our relationship with the environment.

We should be better prepared and educated, and we should aim at a more effective mitigation of the undesired impacts of nature in the territories we inhabit.

We still lack local and regional governance to handle emergencies, including a solid coordination between public and private institutions.

We are well aware of this. Nonetheless, this inconvenient truth is currently paralyzing state and congressional leadership. Although they are still coping with emergencies, there is little time to stand in solidarity with the victims of the disasters, and there are no serious risk mitigation strategies for the entire population.

We need much more prevention and education, and also sophisticated strategies to face emergencies.

Through the social networks, people seem to be aware of this shortcoming. There is an increased interest in learning how climate change intensifies, strengthens and/or increases the frequency of these natural events.

According to the citizen barometer we developed, there is a clear interest for scientific and technological issues, and climate change.

In parallel, different generations are using technologies to communicate (WhatsApp is a prime example) and get information. These same technologies offer huge potential to disaster managers, not only to communicate during emergencies, but also to educate people and build a culture of resilience.

Click here to read the piece published in Cooperativa

Related Posts

Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

28/05/2021
How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

25/01/2021
CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

20/09/2020
Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

18/07/2020

Events

13th Annual AICE Congress: “New Scenarios for Structural Engineering”

AGENDA Fecha:

2020-09-30 00:00:00
AGENDA Direccion:

AICE

Barómetro ciudadano del desastre

Suscríbete a nuestro Newsletter

Y te conectarás con toda la información de CIGIDEN.

Ubícanos

Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul
Edificio Hernán Briones, 3er Piso
Campus San Joaquín, UC
Santiago de Chile
comunicaciones@cigiden.cl
+569 77732828

Guía de expertos 2020

Nuestras plataformas

Encuéntranos

CIGIDEN 2020 - Todos los derechos reservados.

  • Announcements
  • Contact
  • Español
  • English
No Result
View All Result
  • ABOUT US
    • THE CENTER
    • TEAM
    • RESEARCHERS
      • RESEARCHERS
      • SUPPORT STAFF
      • POSTDOCTORAL
    • EXPERT GUIDE 2020
  • RESEARCH
      • L1. Solid Earth Processes and Associated Hazards
      • L2. Surface Water Processes and Associated Hazards
      • L3. Risk and Resilience of Complex Systems and Networks
      • L4. Disaster Cultures and Risk Governance
      • L5. Socio-Economic Assessment of disasters and Mitigation Strategies for Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems
      • L6. Citizen governance
  • SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
      • NEWS
          • CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

            CIGIDEN discussion series will address Disaster Risk Management in a pandemic context

            Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

            Scientific analysis identifies communes with more rain damage in Santiago’s urban areas

            GADRI letter: How will risks and disaster research help us overcome COVID-19?

            GADRI letter: How will risks and disaster research help us overcome COVID-19?

            Researchers identify worst-affected communes by economic risks of COVID-19

            Researchers identify worst-affected communes by economic risks of COVID-19

            Study addresses flash flooding due to extended and heavy rains in Santiago

            Study addresses flash flooding due to extended and heavy rains in Santiago

            Rio Maipo wetland: “Front Line” of protection against extreme waves, storms and tsunamis on the coast

            Rio Maipo wetland: “Front Line” of protection against extreme waves, storms and tsunamis on the coast

      • IN THE MEDIA
          • UC supports chañaral reconstruction: Learn about the contributions the institution has made in Atacama

            UC supports chañaral reconstruction: Learn about the contributions the institution has made in Atacama

      • SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS AND VIDEOS
          • Terremoto en México (en)

            Terremoto en México (en)

      • COLUMNS
          • Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

            Chile and Covid-19: we start from scratch

            How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

            How to govern a disaster? Dialogue, collaboration and democracy

            Everyone should act as if we already have the virus

            Everyone should act as if we already have the virus

            Tsunami vertical evacuation should be an option in Chile

            Tsunami vertical evacuation should be an option in Chile

            Waterspouts, disasters and ecological culture

            Waterspouts, disasters and ecological culture

            ¡Welcome to Chile Greta!

            ¡Welcome to Chile Greta!

      • VIDEOS
          • No posts found.
      • EXHIBITIONS
          • No posts found.
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • PAPERS
    • BOOKS AND MANUALS
    • POLICY PAPERS
  • AGENDA
    • SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES
    • PANEL DISCUSSIONS
    • LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS

CIGIDEN 2019 - All right reserved.