1. The Hurricane Sandy Experience
The Utility Of Social Media In Disseminating Information During Disasters:
The Hurricane Sandy Experience
Stephen P. Wood1,3, James Rifino1,3, Majed Aljohani1,3, Abdulrahman S. Alqahtani1,3, Srihari Cattamanchi1,3,
Amalia Voskanyan1,3, Mustapha S. Fofana2, Michael S. Molloy1, Gregory Ciottone1,3
Harvard Affiliated Disaster Medicine Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
MIRAD Laboratory Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA
Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Boston, MA
Official hospital of the
Boston Red Sox
RESULTS/DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
DATA
On October 30, 2012 the Atlantic US Coast was struck by Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic Coast hurricane in recorded history with winds spanning 1,000 miles.(1) An estimated 50 Million of the East Coast US population were affected by the event. Over 7.5 million people lost power in over 20 states affected by the hurricane and more than 285 people died along its path from the Caribbean to the United States.(1) Damage has been estimated at over $71 Billion for the US alone.
A significant number of agencies including The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)(2), the American Red Cross and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) provided information on their websites regarding hurricane safety and evacuation warnings.
Use of social media sites preemptively for disaster settings is a potential method for disseminating important information before the event in preparation mode, during the event for evacuation warnings, and after the event when resources are not well known. Facebook is one of the most popular social media sites and has over 1.06 Billion active monthly users as at Jan 30th 2013 adding approximately an additional 100 million users every 150 days.
162,000 Likes
638,000 “people talking”
There were 162,000 “likes” and 638,000 “people talking” on the Hurricane Sandy Facebook page. The themes identified from coding the comments included “prayer”, “fear”, and “well wishing”
CONCLUSION
This specific privately posted Facebook website dedicated to Hurricane Sandy did not demonstrate any utility in helping people during the disaster. It does identify a potential immediate source of life-saving information/resources during disasters.
We posit to be more useful individual sites be developed for Hurricanes/Tornadoes/Tidal waves etc and should have generic information including but not limited to
• Shelter in place check lists
• Evacuation routes
• Emergency Contact numbers/lists
and that such generic sites could link to specific sites for the impending event providing a data repository. Significant opportunities exist for government and federal agencies to utilize social media as part of the response to natural or man-made disasters.
More research is required to identify the beneficial use of this widely used communication medium.
RESULTS/DISCUSSION
OBJECTIVES
It was most notable that there were very few comments regarding any safety information, updating of conditions in specific areas or more importantly post-disaster resources available to individuals in affected communities.
A significant advantage social media offers over traditional static data driven websites is the ability for the reader to feedback and comment on their own or their communities situation with respect to access, supplies, hazards and fatalities which could prove very useful in the recovery phase of such a disaster.
Social media is a means of communication that has become ubiquitous in American households.
Taylor electronically surveyed over 1,000 people on their use of social media during disasters in Australia and New Zealand and found over 80% were looking for general information and 55% looking for specific information related to the disaster.(3) Clinician use of social media is increasing exponentially and it is being used as a teaching and information resource with increasing regularity.(4)
To identify the utility of using a specific social media site set up in October 2012 in response to a predicted natural disaster for disseminating pre-event information, real-time reporting of weather conditions, and post-event resources and resilience information.
REFERENCES
METHODS
1. Hurricane Sandy [Internet]. Wikipedia. [cited 2013 Mar 30]. Available from:
2. Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internet]. Wikipedia. [cited 2013 Mar 30]. Available from:
3. Taylor M, Wells G, Howell G, Raphael B. The role of social media as psychological first aid as a support to community resilience building. Australian Journal of Emergency Management. February. 2012;27(1):20–6.
Muhlen von M, Ohno-Machado L. Reviewing social media use by clinicians. J Am Med Inform Assoc Sep;19(5):777–81.
Weft QDA, an open source free computer assisted qualitative data analysis software package (CAQDAS) was used to qualitatively review the “Hurricane Sandy” Facebook page. The software allows for a detailed analysis of content, themes and identification of commonly used phraseology using simple text or through utilizing Boolean queries.
Those who “liked” the page were counted and the individual comments were parsed through Weft QDA. Common themes were identified.