Post-disaster communities on social media: citizen participation in crisis communication after the Nepal earthquake, 2015

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the online communities that emerged as a result of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Most research around social media for emergency management focuses on its use in developed countries, overlooking underdeveloped countries with skewed Internet geographies.To address this gap, this study explores the communication dynamics of online communities formed in response to the Nepal disaster. Through a combination of virtual ethnography and offline interviews, the study identifies online participation patterns, and humanitarian actions undertaken. Traditionally, there have been two major actors involved in disaster intervention in Nepal, the Government and the affected citizens. While they still hold a primary position in disaster response, online communities have emerged as new actors, supporting citizens and intervention agencies in humanitarian aid distribution. Using frameworks of crisis communication, this study finds that despite its limited use, social media created new dynamics within (a) citizen participation; and (b) actors, networks and communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis communication
• social media
• humanitarian aid
• Nepal
• citizen participation
• disasters

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the faculty of Department of Gender Studies, Central European University, Budapest for giving methodological insights for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Central European University; Open Society Foundations.