Role of Social Media in Disaster Management

Abstract

It is a well known fact that natural disasters strikes countries, both developed and developing, causing enormous destruction and creating human sufferings and producing negative impacts on national economies. Due to diverse geo-climatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the globe, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, volcanoes, etc. strikes according to the vulnerability of the area. India is considered as the world's most disaster prone country. It has witnessed devastating natural disasters in recent past like droughts, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, etc. Social media is strongly influencing our life. There are several social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and types of communication technologies are constantly changing our habits of communication. We do not only share information in face to face contacts, but also via a multitude of new forms of social media. New technologies like smart phones comprise diverse sensors, such as cameras, microphones and GPS, which enable a new level of information distribution. This new technology combined with social media allows the user to share information with a huge and growing community. There is not just the information we knowingly share, but also metadata about location, time and so forth. Within these new forms of communication and hidden data lies a big opportunity for crisis mapping and disaster management. These new types of information-usage and new technology can be useful for situational awareness, the distribution of alerts and further functions of disaster management. In this paper an attempt has been made to throw light on some aspect of social media in creating awareness related to the disaster among the masses. Moreover, use of social media during a disaster or emergency management is an entirely new outlook..