The Roles of Social Media During Natural Calamities
- regiedeveraarconad
- Nov 15, 2020
- 2 min read
Social media is a big platform that enables users to share their thoughts and ideas with the public. The widely-used social media sites includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
These past weeks, the Philippines have been hit by a series of typhoons resulting in many casualties and large amounts of damages in properties. The fact that this also happened in the midst of pandemic is truly devastating. Due to the natural disasters, there is an increase of usage of social media as people seek to contact their families and friends affected by the calamity. But do we know how remarkable social media is and how it can help in times of crises?
Below are the roles social media during natural disasters:
1. Social Media platforms are used to warn people about the incoming natural disaster.
Social media outlets is widely-used in informing the public about weather forecasts and other calamities. With the information that the people gathered, they can prepare in advance. Disaster preparedness is important as it reduces the effects of the calamity.
2. It is used to disseminate important information.
Using social media is the most effective way to disperse important information during natural disasters. People need to know the location of evacuation centers and contact number of the rescue teams and contact number of their local government in case of emergencies.
3. Social Media is used as a means of communication.
It is used to connect family and friends between the affected areas and unaffected areas. We see a lot of people asking for help using social media platforms. With this, we can contact the rescue team to give the location of people who need rescuing. This will also help us be updated on the situation on the affected sites.
4. It can be used to drive awareness about the magnitude of the disaster.
Most people want to know the aftermath of the calamity. This information helps the government and volunteer workers to know how many people they will send to the affected areas to assist the people and how much relief goods they need to generate for the people
5. Social Media can be used to collect donations to help the affected areas.
One of the most effective way to reach out to people and ask for donations for the recovery of the victims is by using social media platforms. However, we need to be mindful of where we are donating as there are also a lot of fake disaster campaigns that we can see on the social media sites. Please see below links from Philippine Red Cross if you want to send donation to those who are affected by Typhoon Ulysses:
In conclusion, this proves that social media provides significant assistance during natural calamities. Social Media is a powerful tool as it can reach millions of people. As long as we know how to use social media platforms, we can help the people in the affected areas.
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