COMMUNICATING DISASTER AND

BUILDING SOCIAL RESILIENCE FOR

BETTER HUMANITY
ETIN ANWAR
PROFESSOR, HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES
GENEVA, NY
@ETINANWAR
KEY THEMES

• Communicating disasters as crises

of humanity
• Challenges in communicating
disasters
• Finding models of social resilience
for better communication
COMMUNICATION AS A THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK

Botan, Strategic communication theory and practice (2018: 148)

FRAMING DISASTER IN TERMS OF EDUCATION,
COMMUNICATION, AND ENGAGEMENT (ECE)
Effective and communicative
disaster preparedness,
management, and mitigation
build trust relationship
between stakeholders and
increase social resilience.

Neil Dufty, Disaster Education, communication

and engagement (2020, 131)
COMMUNICATING DISASTERS AS
CRISES OF HUMANITY
THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
CRISIS

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
THE EMISSION OF CO2 THAT CAUSES THE EARTH
TO GET WARMER FASTER

https://www.bbc
.com/news/scien
ce-environment-
24021772
GENDER HIERARCHY AS A NORM

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf
THE INCREASES OF RELIGIOUS HATE CRIMES AND
THE POLITICIZATION OF RELIGION
• Expressing religious hate crimes using religions to support them;
• Polarizing religious ideologies (extremism, conservatism, or jihadism);
• Growing nationalist sentiments based on religious otherness;
• Discriminating people due to religious differences;
• Assigning blames/stigmas based on racial or religious differences

• https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm20214.doc.htm
WEALTH INEQUALITY AND THE RISKS IT POSES TO
HUMANITY

https://inequality.org
/facts/global-
inequality/
CHALLENGES IN
COMMUNICATING DISASTERS
LACK OF PREPAREDNESS COMMUNICATION

Botan, Strategic
communication theory
and practice, 144
DENIALS OF THE PROBLEMS

• Denying gender and wealth inequality;

• Rejecting global warming;
• Insisting on the narratives of economic progress while widening the wealth
gap;
• Framing problem/disaster as as a political commodity;
• Destroying nature (pollution, the use of fossil fuel, deforestation, and
AMPLIFICATION OF INFODEMIC

• Corona virus is a hoax;

• An aromatherapy necklace with eucalyptus can function as "anti-coronavirus.”
(https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-coronavirus-herbal-remedies/a-
54816957)
• Youth won’t get the corona virus infection;
• Bill Gates created the virus or China created the virus
(https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-
conspiracy-theories/);
• Only older people are more vulnerable;
SOCIAL RESILIENCE AND THE OVERCOMING
OF DISASTER
DEFINING RESILIENCE

Bruijne, Boin, and Eeten, “Resilience: Exploring the Concept and its
meanings,” 30.
SOCIAL RESILIENCE INDICATORS

Dufty, Disaster Education,

communication and
engagement, (149)
SOCIAL INSTITUTION, LIKE RELIGION, IS USEFUL TO
COPE WITH PANDEMIC/CRISES

Kang, Mason, and Tarshis, “Relationship between religion/spirituality and mental health in
youth during Covid-19.” https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(20)31825-
6/fulltext?rss=yes//
BUILDING SOCIAL RESILIENCE

• Increasing reliance on the family;

• Using the social cohesion in society as a strength;
• Making connection through the spiritual/religious network;
• Conducting social activism through webinars and others;
• Increasing creative economic activities;
• Enhancing self-education through webinar and online learning.
PARTICIPATING IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/asia-pacific/with-effort-indonesia-can-emerge-from-the-
covid-19-crisis-stronger
 CONCLUSION
• Communication is the key in educating,
managing, and solving the disaster;
• Social institutions, like family,
community, and religions are important
building resilience;
• The failure in communicating disaster
leads to bigger crises.
REFERENCE

• https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-coronavirus-herbal-remedies/a-54816957
• https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/asia-pacific/with-effort-indonesia-can-emerge-from-the-covid-19-crisis-stronger

• Badan Pusat Statistik, Perilaku Masyatakat di Masa Pandemi Covid-19: Hasil Survei Perilaku Masyarakat di Masa Pandemi COVID-19 (7-14
September 2020), 2020.
• Mark de Bruijne, Arjen Boin, Michel van Eeten, “Resilience: Exploring the Concept and its meanings” in Designing Resilience: Preparing for Extreme
Events, eds. Louise K. Comfort, Arjen Boin, Chris C. Demchak (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010), 13-32.

• Janice H.Y. Kang, Roya N. Mason, and Thomas P. Tarshis, “Relationship between religion/spirituality and mental health in youth during Covid-19”,
MPHJ Am Acad Child Adolesce Psychiatry. 2020 Oct; 59(10): S255. Published online 2020 Oct 16. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2020.08.424.
https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(20)31825-6/fulltext?rss=yes//
• Carl H. Botan, Strategic communication theory and practice: the cocreational model (Hoboken, NJ, USA : Wiley Blackwell, 2018).

• Dufty Neil Dufty, Disaster Education, communication and engagement (Wiley-Blackwell, 2020).