Chakraborty, Sweta --- "The Challenge of Emergency Risk Communication: Lessons Learned in Trust and Risk Communication from the Volcanic Ash Crisis" [2011] ELECD 914; in Alemanno, Alberto (ed), "Governing Disasters" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Governing Disasters

Editor(s): Alemanno, Alberto

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935724

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: The Challenge of Emergency Risk Communication: Lessons Learned in Trust and Risk Communication from the Volcanic Ash Crisis

Author(s): Chakraborty, Sweta

Number of pages: 19

Extract:

6. The challenge of emergency risk
communication: lessons learned in
trust and risk communication from
the volcanic ash crisis
Sweta Chakraborty

6.1 INTRODUCTION
Following the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull on 14 April 2010, the global
public was faced with an onslaught of public health and safety risk
communications typical of any emergency situation. Risk communications
following emergency situations face specific challenges. These challenges
have been addressed through the development of crisis communication
paradigms following previous transnational disasters, such as pandemics
and terrorists attacks. However, it is evident from analysis of the communi-
cations following the volcanic ash crisis that no such empirically founded
approach towards emergency risk communication was executed. Rather the
communications that were disseminated immediately following the crisis
were often contradictory and stemmed from a variety of sources ranging
from international organizations to private industry. Public attitudes
towards these varying information sources, particularly levels of trust, and
the role of the media further complicated risk communications being
interpreted by the public as intended, potentially increasing public percep-
tions of the severity of risk.
High perceived risk events rely on effective risk communication as a
critical component for effective emergency response. This chapter examines
what happened in terms of risk communication following the eruption of
Eyjafjallajökull and positions it within existing empirical research related
to emergency risk regulation. It examines volcanic ash crisis communica-
tion activities in relation to existing disaster management paradigms. It
continues on to discuss the role of public perceptions of risk, and more
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