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Online communication behavior at the onset of a catastrophe: an exploratory study of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

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Abstract

This paper describes internet users’ information communication behaviors at the very onset of the catastrophic 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China. Firstly, we examine how crisis communication environment changes in cyber times both in and out of China, and we identify the challenges for crisis communication managers in the network society. Secondly, Chinese netizens’ behaviors in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake are documented based on a survey conducted immediately after the shock. We find that internet was one of the channels to acquire information during the Wenchuan earthquake, and netizens used it as a supplement to confirm information comparint to other traditional channels. Professional portals played important role in information dissemination among internet users. Governmental official agency websites were trusted by most internet users, and multiple channels were used to confirm earthquake information. Instant messengers was the primary channel for information reposting by netizens.

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Fig. 1

Adopted from CNNIC (2017): 39

Fig. 2

Adopted from (CNNIC 2009)

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Notes

  1. Personal observation of the European Sociologist email lists.

  2. There were 84.6 million netizens in rural areas at the end of 2008, and it had around 60.8% annual increase while the increase in city areas was about 35.6%. The number of netizens in western China grows faster than that in the middle part [40.6%] and eastern part [39.3%].

  3. Personal communication with Ms. Ping Xu, a Ph.D. student at Louisiana State University’s Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, who participated in 2008 Sichuan volunteer assistance supported by Wenchuan earthquake taskforce. This volunteer academic organization communicated with foreign experts all over the world about practical problems faced on-site through internet and provided policy advice to local response headquarter.

  4. For example, social network websites are very popular in the youth, so warning information is accessible quickly for them for free. For see video from Officer Michael Levy from the Ocean City, MD police department. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDQzpWq4r2c.

  5. The organization named Zhuoming has provided this service, and its WeChat account is postdizhen.

  6. Xinhua agency and China news agency are two main official news sources in China, who have extensive coverage capacities regarding news in and out of China. Xihuanet ranks the third among the world news website.

  7. All these websites updated more than 20,000 pieces of news daily and were clicked more than 2 billion times daily.

  8. Tecent QQ has 105.3 million peak concurrent users according to a statistical result in 2010. For details, read http://www.tencent.com/en-us/at/abouttencent.shtml (last accessed on September 9, 2017).

  9. QQ is a popular free instant messaging computer application program in Mainland China, upon February 9, 2009; the peak simultaneous online users exceed 50 million, and registered users increase to 85.6 million till the end of 2008.

  10. The first news about Sichuan earthquake from China Central Television was broadcasted at 14:50, while the first from China National Radio is at 15:04.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (71642005 71774098), Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program (20151080360) Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (17YJC630101). Many thanks to David Lowery, Daniela Stochmann and Benjamin Van Rooij and other colleagues in China Discussion Group at Leiden University, Tianzheng Zhang, Yang Wang and Yongchi Ma for the advice on survey design. Special thanks Dennis Mileti for sending me the 30-year collection of warning and evacuation literature. Part of this paper has been presented in the 2010 Netherlands Institute of Government Annual Working Conference and 2009 Brown Bag Seminar of Stephenson Disaster Management Institute at Louisiana State University, and thanks for the comments from the colleagues in these two meetings. Special thanks to Arjen Boin for his helpful comments in revising this paper.

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  1. Center for Crisis Management Research, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Xiaoli Lu

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Lu, X. Online communication behavior at the onset of a catastrophe: an exploratory study of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. Nat Hazards 91, 785–802 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-3155-1

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