Towards a People Centred Early Warning and Disaster Response System in Samoa: The Use of ICT by Samoans During Disaster

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a 400 household survey which investigated what sources of information and technical medium Samoan citizens trust and act upon in times of disaster. Findings of the survey indicated the following. 1)The predominance and pervasiveness of mobile phones at 91% indicate its potential for use in any disaster response and relief interventions. 2) With only 34% of mobile phones being Smart phones: disaster preparedness, early warning and response interventions should target basic mobile phone sets. 3) With 65% of respondents using Face Book this social media should be considered as a possible avenue for lateral dissemination for early warning and disaster response. 4) The predominance of radio followed by TV as an important, trusted source of information which people act on indicate its important role in any emergency response interventions. Since these media are trusted sources they should be used extensively for dissemination of information for preparedness, early warning and disaster response. 5) Professional reporters are regarded by the majority as the most predominantly used, the most trusted and the most important source of information and news during an emergency. The findings of this survey generate important considerations towards a people centred early warning and disaster relief system. 1.INTRODUCTION While technology access has expanded worldwide, there is still limited research about how people use the technology available to them during crisis, and what the effects of varying socio-political and economic contexts are on the level of trust people place on information from different sources and technical mediums. The research documented in this paper draws on the literature on collective action problems and cooperation theory to develop a more nuanced understanding of how people use and share information across technological mediums during crises, using socio-political and economic factors to understand micro-level differences in information use and behavior.The current study focuses on ICT use during disasters in Samoa at the individual level. The main area of interest in this research is to understand how citizens act on different types of information and how the source of information affects their decisions to act. Since communication infrastructure is a "magnifier of human intent", there is a relationship between social capital, good governance, and how people act on different streams of information. The main goal of the research was to answer the following questions:1.What sources of information do Samoan citizens trust in times of disaster? 2.How do they act on different types of information and how does the source of information and technical medium affect their decisions to act in times of disaster?Identification of the sources of information and which sources affect people's decisions to act is important as it will inform what information sources people will trust and

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