21st Century Foundation

Study of the application of social medias in the process of disaster relief and prevention.

    With the increasing global users of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, these micro blog or social media which based on Web 2.0, played an important role in transfer functions of disaster prevention information in recent major disasters occurred. It has been a significant issue for government to know that how to combine and apply social network into disaster-prevention information system, and how government build partnership with civil organization in the process of disaster relief and prevention. In this study, through literature analysis, in-depth interviews, focus groups, we found that: a) it is the tendency to transmit information through social media, and develop disaster relief and prevention information platform; b) The civil organization use social media better than government during the disaster, but the correctness of information still need to overcome; c) The users highly demand for disaster information, material donations and volunteers; d) Volunteers can help to exchange, filtrate the entire disaster information, and publish the official information, assist the government to code the official information system; e) Government can subsidize civil society to do volunteer recruitment, training and organize; f) Information volunteers and disaster prevention and rescue authorities need to clarify the responsibility. Finally, this research suggests that: a) Government should construct the information network of disaster. At usual, promoting the concept of relief and prevention of disaster, and as the disaster prevention information release platform when the disaster occurred; b) Government fund civil organization to construct the system of information volunteer, and assist Government to deal with the information of disaster prevention and relief when the disaster occur; c) disaster prevention and rescue authorities should have the concept of open data, open platform, open innovation, and in general, provide private information necessary to establish the partnership between government and civil society; d) About tracing people report safety and other matters; the government can coordinate the civil organization to provide services.