Managing rumor, looting, and suicide not as breaking news but as community disaster culture

Abstract

Not many have realized the close relationship between rumor, looting, and suicide and disaster management, although some researchers have discussed each issue separately. The purpose of this paper is to understand better the nature of these three issues by mainly analyzing them in the context of distinguished models, ‘breaking news’ and the community’s culture when it comes to disaster management. As the key finding, the field of disaster management must not manage rumor, looting, and suicide only as breaking news. Instead, these three issues should be managed under the community’s disaster culture to dispel rumors and provide facts through the mass media and public information officers, penalize cases of looting coupled with education, and support and intervene in cases of suicide.