This website is a gateway to resources, information and practical tools for developing the ability of individuals, communities and organisations to be better prepared to cope with emergencies and disasters.
Disaster management is dominated by top-down relief efforts that assume children and youth are passive victims with no role in communicating risks or preventing and responding to disasters. This article challenges these assumptions and critically assesses prevailing theoretical models of risk communication using two case studies that highlight the unique needs and potential roles of children and youth as resources or receivers of disaster management information.
The impact of risk communication depends upon a complex interaction between the characteristics of the audience, the source of the message, and its content. Audience perception of risk is influenced by demographic factors (e.g. age, gender), personality profile, past experience, and ideological orientation. It is also affected by cognitive biases (e.g. unrealistic optimism) and lay 'mental models' of the hazard For food hazards, the important dimensions of risk are controllability, novelty and naturalness.
Both risks and benefits have to be considered when seeking to understand what drives some behaviours and why some interventions are more acceptable and successful than others. Social, cultural and economic factors are central to how individuals perceive health risks. Similarly, societal and structural factors can influence which risk control policies are adopted and the impact that interventions can achieve.
