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Abstract
Post-disaster communication surveys are important in order to improve future disaster warning efficiency. Mauritius, a small island nation in the western Indian Ocean, was in the path of the tsunami of December 2004 but experienced only minimal wave impact. This is fortunate because the results of this survey show very slow warning dissemination through the population. Television and radio were equally effective in disseminating the initial warning information, but television far exceeded radio's reach as regards mass awareness and information seeking in the hours after the danger had passed. The interpersonal communication of warning information was minimal, and the warning messages provided insufficient and, it seems, inaccurate information.
Notes
1. Funding for this research was provided by the Council for the Independent Exchange of Scholars through the Fulbright Scholars Program. This enabled the researcher to live in Mauritius for an extended period while conducting this research.
2. Acknowledging that more than one adult of a given gender may live in a dwelling, other more complex methods to select adults based on “most recent birthday” were explored to further randomize household participants. However, consultation with the call center managers familiar with telephoning households in Mauritius suggested that such over-selective wording would raise too much suspicion or confusion among a population not used to being scientifically surveyed by telephone. Thus, a selection method based only on random gender indication without being more specific was chosen.