Sara McBride with Ruby in Fiji 2011 after tropical cyclone Evans. The cyclone destroyed Ruby’s family home; she lived with her family for two weeks with 25 other people on one room in an evacuation shelter just outside Nadi. Sara’s job was to help children like Ruby by communicating stories about the situation in Fiji to assist donations and emergency response.
A group of New Zealand’s top natural hazards scientists, researchers and engineers will converge on Wellington on Friday for a workshop focused on disaster communication.
‘Media, disasters and the public’ is organised by the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, the Science Media Centre, the Natural Hazards Research Platform and Massey University’s School of English and Media Studies.
Massey PhD student and workshop co-organiser Sara McBride says the workshop, which will be opened by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, is the first of its kind in New Zealand.
“In the last five years, we’ve had an intense period of scientific communication with the Canterbury earthquakes, Cyclone Lusi and Ita, Cook Strait earthquakes, and re-awakening of Tongariro.
“There have been a lot of lessons learned through these events and this workshop is about linking our scientists who have to communicate in a crisis with our communications and psychology researchers as well as journalists who use this information so we can communicate more effectively in the next large-scale disaster.”
Workshop participants will be given an opportunity to share their concerns about interacting with media and to participate in a session about what journalists need in a crisis with journalists Paul Gorman from The Press and Renee Graham from TVNZ ONE News.
The needs of politicians during disasters will be covered by Massey Vice Chancellor The Hon. Steve Maharey. Mr Maharey will draw on his experience as a Government Minister to discuss what politicians require from disaster communication in order to make sound decisions.
The workshop also includes a session by Massey University Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley from the School of English and Media Studies and Dr Ian de Terte from the School of Psychology on reaching traumatised audiences. Dr de Terte will explain the psychology of trauma and how it affects both cognitive and emotional response, while Dr Tilley will translate this into the practical implications for communication message design.
“The partnership with the Science Media Centre is exciting; they are the best at what they do in New Zealand and we are really fortunate to have them facilitate this workshop,” says Ms McBride.
The full-day workshop will be held at the Royal Society of New Zealand lecture theatre in Wellington from 9am to 5pm on Friday, October 10. Further information: www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/disasters
The Joint Centre for Disaster Research is a partnership between Massey University and GNS Science. Sara McBride is jointly supervised by the School of English & Media Studies and the Joint Centre for Disaster Research.