Leveraging online technologies for managing disaster risks: Insights for Canadian governments
Online technologies have changed the way we communicate, receive information and interact with officials during an emergency, such as a flood or wildfire.
We are notified by mobile applications when inclement weather is set to strike, we can find tsunami and flood warnings on Twitter, and Facebook notifies us if our friends or loved ones are "safe" when any disaster unfolds in their vicinity.
Canadian researcher Sara Harrison is interested in identifying opportunities for online collaboration and engagement between governments and citizens. Sara wants to understand how governments interact with their residents before, during and after a disaster. How are different governments across Canada doing this? Is there untapped potential in the way governments interact, educate and obtain information from their citizens? How could governments benefit from online citizen engagement?