Informing citizens as a preparedness measure

Regarding the different ways information may be provided/received, a number of participants referred to the, in their opinion most “simple”, form of awareness improvement measure - paper brochures: “Municipalities should hand out leaflets” (G5-P4); “they could send letter from the Lazio region authority or whatever. Clearly a letter is a bit of an old system, but you are sure it will reach everyone, every house. This is one way to inform” (G2-P11). Others refer to a range of sources: “If would be useful to create awareness, be it through the school, TV, information brochures about ways to save lives […] a lot of people get hurt, they die running down the staircase […] If there could be a way that you have it written down and you post it on the fridge, it would a way to save a lot of lives” (G8-P3). These quotes show that, interestingly, despite their aforementioned enthusiasm for internet and social media use in disasters, participants, here, default to paper-based information. It may be thus concluded that whilst active information-gathering during a disaster is part of an online culture, gathering information for disaster preparedness is not but requires, at least partially, more traditional sources.

Note: See source document for full reference.

Cultural Factors: Customs/traditions/rituals, Attitudes toward the media

Hazards: Natural hazards, Man-made non-intentional hazards or emergency situations, Man-made intentional hazards

Disaster Phases: Prevention, Preparedness

Types of Actors Concerned: National civil protection body, Local authorities, Government

Recommendations:

• Develop culturally aware disaster preparedness and response training
• Training programmes for citizens of all ages should be developed. These are necessary to increase citizens’ knowledge of and preparedness in case of disasters. The training activities should be organized on the basis of a training strategy and should take various forms, ranging from emergency drill to workshops