The influence of citizen disaster communication on perceptions of neighborhood belonging and community resilience

ABSTRACT

The Citizen Disaster Communication Assessment (CDCA) measures individual disaster communication activities that are intended to help communities cope across all phases of a disaster. Using the CDCA, this study examined associations among citizen disaster communication, neighborhood belonging, and community resilience using three different samples representing different disaster phases (Pre-event, Event, Post-event). Results indicate that more citizen disaster communication was associated with stronger perceptions of neighborhood belonging and community resilience at the Event and Post-event phases. In terms of specific citizen disaster communication processes that proved important, communication to correct disaster rumors and share stories was associated with greater feelings of belonging. Communication intended to confirm disaster information and tell stories was associated with stronger community resilience perceptions. Overall, results (a) confirm that citizen disaster communication is an important part of the disaster response and recovery ecosystem and (b) offer evidence of concurrent validity for the CDCA.

KEYWORDS:

• Disaster communication
• communication ecology
• community resilience
• communication infrastructure theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [grant number 5U79SM061264].