Mediating emergencies: Defining the relationship between intimate and distant disaster communication models

Abstract

Disaster communication mediates how people respond to emergency situations. With the rise of new technologies, emerging media practices are being promoted by the state to govern communities at-risk. This article examines emergency smartphone applications rolled out in Australia during the 2020 black summer bushfires. An autoethnographic analysis of the author’s personal experience of sheltering in and evacuating from the coastal town of Mallacoota is employed to assess how current forms of disaster communication mediate emergencies. Focus is placed on the impact of disaster communications on people’s perception of community resilience. The two primary sources of information accessed by people during the bushfires – the state and close relations, construct a theoretical framework for comparing different models of communication. A comparative methodology that draws on archival material and critical discourse investigates the extent to which competing sources of information generate a productive conflict. I develop a model that defines distant transmissions and intimate exchanges for the shifting media histories of disaster communication, and argue the relationship cultivated by competing forms can generate resilience when disaster strikes.