Original Research

A revision of communication strategies for effective disaster risk reduction: A case study of the South Durban basin, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Chris Skinner, Renitha Rampersad
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies | Vol 6, No 1 | a132 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v6i1.132 | © 2014 Chris Skinner, Renitha Rampersad | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 13 May 2014 | Published: 28 November 2014

About the author(s)

Chris Skinner, Department of Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, South Africa
Renitha Rampersad, Department of Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, South Africa

Abstract

The study examined how effective forms of communication are, or could be, impacting themore traditional forms of emergency and disaster management communication throughthe print and electronic media and how an integrated communication strategy involving allstakeholders could prove to be successful. This study was of an exploratory and descriptivenature, using a case study of the South Durban basin to demonstrate how media analysis,community discussions and internal and external evaluations of current practices in use bymajor industrial players in the basin has thus far failed to reach its full potential for effectivedisaster risk reduction. Strongly emerging from this study was the finding that, as a resultof these evaluations, new systems are now being planned to incorporate social media as anintegral part of an overall communication strategy, which could have far-reaching implicationsfor corporate communicators and strategic planners.

Keywords

disaster risk communication; disaster risk management; disaster risk reduction; public protective strategy; social media

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