| Popis: |
Social media can reach millions within seconds and is therefore one of the most frequently used communication and trust-building tools in pre-, during and post-disaster activities. In the case study presented in this chapter on the Lorestan floods in March 2019, public sector decision-makers and ordinary citizens used a wide variety of mobile-based and web-based technologies (SMS and blogs) and different social media platforms for help, mapping and sending status reports, fund raising, donations and mobilising volunteers for assistance. In this context, the research analysed data to examine the role of social media in disaster response, focusing on their ability of strengthening public willingness to donate and to support relief organisations during and after the 2019 floods in the province of Lorestan, Iran. This chapter explores whether collective action via social media could bring about any improvement to post-disaster management activities, and how social media operate in such contexts. The floods also caused damages in some of the outstanding historical sites of Lorestan. Findings from the manual monitoring of social media posts by major disaster-related actors in Iran reveal that the most common functions of social media in this case have been to inform about relief operations during the crisis, to mobilise the public to help during the crisis and finally to organise human resources for relief operations. Moreover, the study highlights three key themes, namely (a) the distrust of state organisations towards social media, (b) political sensitivities surrounding the application or boycott of social media and (c) lack of sufficient media literacy and the need felt by the state for a centralised control over social media as two main challenges associated with the use of social media by state organisations. |
