Disaster Recovery Journal Winter 2023

of a Hawaiian recovery operation pro vided plenty of fuel for the not-so-prover bial fire. Post-disaster disinformation can be placed into three buckets: causal, manipu lative, and incidental. Causal disinformation is speculative, often focusing on events and actions lead ing up to the event. It is sometimes pur poseful and sometimes not. Manipulative disinformatio n is inten tional, purposefully planted to influence recovery decisions or use the event to influence outside theaters. Incidental disinformation often has the best of intentions but is not always aligned with real needs or the recovery supply chain. Disinformation can be costly. A survey of aid organizations estimated 60% of sup plies donated by individuals after natural disasters are lost to landfills through spoil age or because the items were simply not needed. In Maui, one picture of people deliver ing supplies via jet skis was shared more than 70,000 times. The original post was unintentional. It was uploaded by a Maui resident watching what was a real event. The social media tree which grew from that seed made the image an illustration of failing recovery efforts. Social media works much like a tree. There is a seed, a source. From that seed grows a tree with countless branches as the post is shared multitudes of times. The historic Lahaina Banyan Tree in Maui is, ironically, a manifestation of what a viral social media post would look like if it were physical – countless branches twist ing and spreading in different directions, all searching for light to provide nourish ment. Common strategies to combat disin formation won’t work in a disaster. The situation is too fast-paced and continu ally changing. Disaster recovery strategies need to be more aggressive and prepared to address images and statements in real time. Managers need to incorporate con scious monitoring for disinformation or misinformation as part of their communi cation plan.

Disaster Disinformation

S

By BILL MELLANDER

ocial media is ripe with allega tions the government is keep ing recovery supplies away from recent catastrophe vic tims. Complaints are common after catastrophes. Survivors want help faster, and respond

critical platform allowing direct outreach to the public. Catastrophe communicators seek to empower with information to help people help themselves. The communicative landscape after a disaster is dictated by the environment of the event. That envi ronment is already, uniquely difficult and filled with life-threatening distractions to the message. Disinformation was abundant after wildfires tore across the island of Maui in August. It was more apparent because the usual logistical complexities of recovery were magnified exponentially in Hawaii simply because it is Hawaii – the most isolated large population center on earth, 2,400 miles from the nearest mainland. Disinformation feeds off of real news, events, and actions. The logistical troubles

ers want to provide it faster. Every natural disaster recovery is wrought with logisti cal difficulty. Frustrations are expected. What’s different now is the growth of social media-driven disinformation. I have been working and studying catastrophe communication for 25 years. The cloud of disinformation seen recently in Maui is an example of why disaster communicators are now being forced to pay more and more attention to the nega tive aspects of social media – a vehicle mostly seen by emergency managers as a

24 DISASTER RECOVERY JOURNAL | WINTER 2023