Still Left in the Dark? How People in Emergencies Use Communication to Survive – and How Humanitarian Agencies Can Help

Policy Briefing JEROEN OERLEMANS/PANOS POLICY BRIEFING #6 M A R C H 2 0 1 2 Still left in the dark? How people in emergencies use communication to survive – and how humanitarian agencies can help Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter: mediaaction.org STILL LEFT IN THE DARK? HOW PEOPLE IN EMERGENCIES USE COMMUNICATION TO SURVIVE The changing world of income. But, as costs fall and coverage increases, all the signs are that usage will increase rapidly in rural areas communications technology and among poorer people. The high value placed by The growth in the use of communications technology in even the poorest people on access to communications the developing world throws up a number of challenges technology is clear in the way they invest their meagre and opportunities for humanitarian agencies. One key resources. As one Somali NGO staff member commented challenge for humanitarian agencies – already well behind on community partners, “they may not have had lunch LISA ROBINSON/BBC MEDIA ACTION MEDIA ROBINSON/BBC LISA the curve – will be not just to catch up, but to stay ahead – but they’ll have a mobile phone.” of developments. Back in 2007 (centuries ago in the What does all this mean for humanitarians? There is, evolution of new media), researchers at the University without question, a great deal of hype around technology. of South Colorado analysed the use of social media by Extravagant claims have been made in recent years for populations affected by forest fi res in California and its ability to solve everything from election fraud to concluded that “these emergent uses of social media are Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) management. Such pre-cursors of broader future changes to the institutional claims are often based on little hard 2 and organisational arrangements of disaster response”. evidence, particularly on the practical This is now becoming a reality. More people in more use of communications technology “countries now own and Mobile phone use tripled in the developing world in emergencies. This has led many between 2005 and 2010, with the fastest growth in Africa, aid workers to go to the other use sophisticated according to the International Telecommunications Union. extreme and question the relevance Subscription rates in developing countries grow 20 per of communications technology in communications cent year on year3 while costs (a key barrier to access) emergency responses, particularly when technology on a daily continue to fall (having dropped by over 50 per cent in working with affected communities. 4 basis than ever before. the past two years alone). Neither position is helpful. In terms of ” Although access to the internet is still very limited in most a way forward, it is worth noting that most of the claims countries, it is mushrooming, with mobile broadband come from international technology specialists, while access growing by 160 per cent between 2009 and 2010.5 much of the most relevant and valuable work (from an Front cover image Introduction Organization of Migration (IOM), have secured funding Increasingly, internet access is through mobile phones, aid perspective) is actually evolving on the ground within Six days after the and support for such work during emergencies. There is local communities and the local private sector. And what In 2008, a BBC World Service Trust policy briefi ng argued especially in developing countries. In Kenya, 54 per cent earthquake in Haiti in increasing recognition by the UN’s Offi ce for Coordination is clear is that too many agencies still believe that engaging 2010, a makeshift that people affected by earthquakes, fl oods or other of those who use the web do so through a handset and of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) of the importance of local telecommunications experts see this as one of the with benefi ciaries via the latest communication technology telephone shop has emergencies often lacked the information they needed this kind of communication: OCHA now includes updates managed to provide most signifi cant trends for the next fi ve years. In India, the is something they can do at some vague point in the future, to survive and that this only added to their stress and on this area in its situation reports and has funded key telephone lines fi gure is 59 per cent. The increased use of smartphones when they are ‘ready’. This is a dangerous and erroneous anxiety. Left in the Dark: the unmet need for information in initiatives, including the Haiti coordination mechanism. charged by solar humanitarian emergencies maintained that humanitarian and the many ways in which handsets are used are strong assumption as the communications revolution is already The media assistance organisation Internews, and other 6 power. A handful of agencies were increasingly effective and coordinated in trends that are expected to continue. Analysts expect the very much underway. telephones provide specialist communications agencies such as BBC Media Indonesian smartphone market, for example, to grow 67 getting food, water, shelter and medical help to people In terms of communication with affected communities, lifeline support for Action (formerly the BBC World Service Trust), have also per cent in 2012.7 people trying to affected by disasters, but were neglecting the need to get begun to develop specifi c humanitarian response capacity, the most important trends for humanitarian practitioners contact loved ones. often life-saving information to them. including dedicated staff and funding, although resources In short, more people in more countries now own and are shown below. Much has changed since 2008. Thanks to the efforts are still insuffi cient. use sophisticated communications technology on a daily Above Through basis than ever before, and their numbers will continue Growing demand for interaction of several humanitarian and media support Non- Meanwhile, mobile telephony and other new communication Connexion Haiti, to grow – at ever greater speed – over the coming Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the report helped technologies have spread with extraordinary speed. In 2008, The original Left in the Dark paper stressed the importance BBC World Service years. As one interviewee in Kenya commented, “We to galvanise momentum across the humanitarian sector the main danger was that people affected by humanitarian of seeing communication as a two way process, focused provided daily are only a few years away from the fi rst response in to prioritise communication with the populations it emergencies would continue to be left in the dark when on the urgent provision of information and the active broadcasts in the which a signifi cant number of survivors have access to aftermath of the serves. While many humanitarian agencies continue disaster struck, deprived of the information that would help enabling of people to communicate. Few within the smartphones”. earthquake. Produced to see communication as something that is done to them to understand what was happening and what they humanitarian sector disagree with the logic of prioritising and edited by a team raise money or boost the profi le of their disaster relief could do to survive. In 2012, it may now be the humanitarian Similar patterns are seen in social media platforms such such communication and it features increasingly in the based in Miami, the efforts, the sector is, increasingly, seeing the need for agencies themselves – rather than t he survivors of a disaster as Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), rhetoric of the humanitarian system. But, in practice, it programmes shared a clear strategic focus that responds to the information – who risk being left in the dark. As growing access to new YouTube and so on. The country with the second highest is still rarely operationalised in ways that are clear and vital information. and communication needs of those affected by disaster. technologies makes it more likely that those affected by number of people on Facebook is now India (after the meaningful. One of the consequences of greater access There is also a growing recognition of the benefi ts of such disaster will be better placed to access information and USA) with over 3.5 million new users in the three months to, and the spread of, communications technology is that communication to improve programming and the overall communicate their own needs, a key question arises: are (to March 2012), closely followed by Indonesia, Brazil communities now expect – and demand – interaction. emergency response. humanitarian agencies prepared to respond to, help and and Mexico. Over the last six months (to March 2012), As one infl uential blogger (Kim Stephens, writing on In 2012, it may now On January 12, 2010, a catastrophic engage with those who are communicating with them and Facebook sign-ups went up 19 per cent in Libya, 36 idisaster 2.0) puts it, “people who go to an agency’s earthquake hit Haiti close to the who demand better information? per cent in Yemen, 26 per cent in Mongolia and 29 per Facebook page or follow their Twitter feed expect two “be the humanitarian 8 way communication. Non responsiveness is not something capital, Port au Prince, killing more than The response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake saw humanitarian cent in Azerbaijan. In Somalia sign-ups over the same 11 agencies themselves 300,000 people and making more than responders begin to recognise the importance and timescale increased from around 30,000 to 75,500 – an people react well to”. increase of 138%.9 This very steep trajectory was fuelled, – rather than the survivors one million homeless. A coordination implications of the technological communications capacity In developing as well as developed countries, feedback mechanism designed to ensure the of disaster survivors. From trapped people who used mobile according to several Somali journalists interviewed for hotlines, interactive websites and a social media presence of a disaster – who risk better provision of information to – and phones to call for help from beneath the rubble to locally- this paper, by the introduction of the ‘chat’ feature which are a central part of any business.

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