The Importance of Communication During Disaster Relief and Response

This essay examines the critical role of communication during disasters, highlighting its importance in emergency preparedness and response. It evaluates how effective communication, particularly through organizations like the NVOAD, aids in disaster relief and reduces casualties. The study emphasizes the necessity of advance planning and the establishment of robust communication platforms to ensure efficient information transfer and resource allocation during crises. Drawing from instances like Hurricane Katrina, the essay underscores the benefits of community-based communication strategies and the implementation of emergency action plans for swift and coordinated responses. The analysis concludes that proactive communication planning and community engagement are vital for mitigating the devastating consequences of disasters, and the Jewish community has especially benefitted from this strategy. Desklib provides this and many more solved assignments for students.

COMMUNICATION DURING A DISASTER

Communication during a disaster
Keywords: communication, disaster, disaster communication, off grid
Abstract: This study evaluated the importance of communication when an individual or
community comes face to face with a disaster. Since communication is an essential mode of
transferring information, therefore, it aids in the process of emergency preparation. According to
García-Campos et al. (2018), advance planning is a core requirement in the time of emergency.
However, for this planning to be executed in a successful manner, communication is the key
factor. Due to this very reason, the significance of communication has been thoroughly
highlighted in this study. One of the most effective forms of such communication during disaster
response has been established by the NVOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in
Disaster) coalition among the Jewish community in the US. This study highlights the benefits of
communication during time of crisis and how this coalition has provided much greater scope for
avoiding any drastic consequences. Most importantly, long term results can be obtained by
establishing a strong platform of communication since the model provided by NVOAD provides
an effective result. One of the most successful instances of following this model was observed
when Hurricane Katrina bestowed itself. As per the view of Adler, Rodman & Du Pré (2016),
communication is a stable mode of transferring responses from one end to the other. The nature
of disaster is usually unknown to all; it can be man-made or natural. However, as opined by
Singh et al. (2017), former preparation is always encouraged since it helps in reducing the
number of causalities. Communication is, therefore, one of the viable modes through which
problems can be dealt with in an effective manner. Although it is important to maintain a stable
form of communication, otherwise it might lead to chaos. Establishment of emergency funds
along with providing care resources can only be helpful when an appropriate form of
communication is established. Local communities get the abundant scope of learning about
communication through the help of NVOAD. Preparation of off-grid techniques along with
making quick decisions are also evaluated by NVOAD. The help provided by this coalition has
especially helped the Jewish community in battling various forms of disaster that has presented
itself. The Jewish community was itself lending a helping hand since it has understood the
necessary lesson about the importance of communication during a disaster. As forwarded by
Olteanu, Vieweg & Castillo (2015), an emergency communication plan is one of the most

effective manners through which quick actions can be taken. An emergency action plan
essentially helps in the process of collecting necessary information along with sharing it with the
right sources so that adequate help can be provided if faced with a disaster. Since an emergency
action plan eases the process of communication through forming an organized base of
information, therefore, it is recommended to integrate this source of action for avoiding dreadful
consequences. Thus, by creating a family emergency communication plan, understating the
necessary mode of action along with safeguarding of important information can be successfully
established that can help in avoiding the drastic consequences of a disaster.

References
Adler, R.B., Rodman, G.R. & Du Pré, A., (2016). Understanding human communication, 10(1),
23-43. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 11 March 2019 from:
https://www.vesalius.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CMM101G-F16.pdf
García-Campos, J.M., Gutiérrez, D., Sánchez-García, J. & Marn, S.T., (2018). A Simulation
methodology for Conducting Unbiased and Reliable Evaluation of MANET
Communication Protocols in Disaster Scenarios. In Smart Technologies for Emergency
Response and Disaster Management, 4(3), 106-143. Retrieved on 11 March 2019 from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel_Gutierrez9/publication/
311923089_A_Simulation_Methodology_for_Conducting_Unbiased_and_Reliable_Eval
uation_of_MANET_Communication_Protocols_in_Disaster_Scenarios/links/
58652a0008ae8fce490c2146.pdf
Olteanu, A., Vieweg, S. & Castillo, C., (2015). What to expect when the unexpected happens:
Social media communications across crises. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference
on computer supported cooperative work & social computing, 3(2), 994-1009. Retrieved
on 11 March 2019 from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tilly_Gurman/publication/275666281_Reaching_th
e_Global_Community_During_Disasters_Findings_From_a_Content_Analysis_of_the_O
rganizational_Use_of_Twitter_After_the_2010_Haiti_Earthquake/links/
55f9bff608aec948c49664b4.pdf
Singh, J.P., Dwivedi, Y.K., Rana, N.P., Kumar, A. & Kapoor, K.K., (2017). Event classification
and location prediction from tweets during disasters. Annals of Operations Research,
2(1), 1-21. Retrieved on 11 March 2019 from:
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-017-2522-3.pdf