IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2014 - 59

to a particular target audience:
namely, the population at risk. It
aims to assist people in determining the appropriate risk amount
and the relevant response. Disaster
warning is an activity subject to
strict regulations [45], [46]. Its key
issues include: source, message,
and accessibility.
Who has the right to issue warning messages? A clear-cut distinction
exists between sources that function
as the official emergency warning
mechanism and sources that provide
disaster-related information but do
not require compliance. The right to
issue warning messages is usually
governed by the principle of proximity. Local authorities have priority,
as they are believed to possess better
situation awareness [45].
What information should be conveyed and how should messages be
composed? Message content should
be consistent, standards-based,
complete, verifiable, timely, and
situation-specific, and should containing simple, easily understood
instructions [47], [48]. Messages
should be adapted for diverse audiences, locations, and circumstances,
and tailored to the needs of specific
communities [49], [50].
How to make warning messages accessible to all? It is necessary to consider the possibility of
infrastructure failure. The warning
message should be accessible to all
groups and individuals, including
people with special needs, children, and senior citizens. The same
message should be delivered in all
possible modes (text, audio, visual)
and disseminated through multiple channels (telephone, highway
signs, and so on) [45].
Case studies demonstrate, however, that delivering the right content, composing the right messages,
and making the message accessible
do not guarantee that the population will respond as intended [51].
In fact, the population may remain
unreceptive to warning and risk
communication due to psychological factors, such as cognitive

Emergency communication should
not be reduced to content delivery,
and the population should not
be seen as a passive receiver of
information and instructions.
dissonance, denial, fatalism, gambler's fallacy, over-confidence, and
the illusion of control and invulnerability [52]. Furthermore, attitude to the information source may
affect compliance with warning and
health risk messages [53]. For some
audiences, a reliable and influential
source may constitute a member
of a primary social group (family, friends) or an individual who is
admired or respected, rather than a
technical expert or a representative
of official power [52]. In order to
ensure the population's response, it
is necessary to know which norms
and beliefs influence attitudes in
different communities, and who
is positioned as influentials [44].
Within some communities, emergency preparedness and health risk
communication should be addressed
to social units (households, extended
families, neighborhoods), rather
than to individuals, and conveyed
via social channels (churches, social
clubs, schools, labor unions) [47].

Survival Response
During an instance of sudden disaster or emergency, people's behavior is affected by physiological and
physical mechanisms. In times of
crisis, individual and collective
behaviors are characterized by common properties, such as behaviors
that are new or non-traditional and
different from daily actions (panic,
flight, evacuation, deviant behavior,
and so on) [54]. Complex social systems may quickly turn into chaotic
conglomerates of atomized individuals, whose behavior is determined by the most basic needs and

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

SPRING 2014

demonstrates similarity due to the
commonality of its cause.
Survival response depends on
the human mind's ability to perceive signals, process information, and use information during
decision-making and subsequent
action. Empirical research on
people's behavior during catastrophes shows that survival response
can be severely impaired by cognitive constraints on information
processing, resulting in inadequate situation awareness, poor
decision-making, and such reactions as "freezing" [55]. The basic
principle of effective communication during life-threatening situations dictates the need to reduce
cognitive storage and processing
demands in order to avoid information overload that may cause
cognitive failure. The problem
of cognitive constraints can be
addressed, for example, by training people to react automatically,
and by simplifying and optimizing
survival and rescue equipment for
intuitive use.

Emergency/Crisis Interaction
In emergency situations, individuals need to interact with emergency
services for the purpose of seeking
help and/or information relevant
to self-protection and survival.
Active engagement in interaction is
required in order for disaster management practitioners to assess and
interpret the request, "because in
emergency situations "data" often
comprises diverse and inconsistent impressions, opposite claims,
and vague and fragmented background information" [56, p. 20].
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2014