Emergency warning messages: encouraging readiness to act

The negative impacts of natural hazards can be lessened by community members responding appropriately to emergency warning messages during disasters. This research adopts a multi-hazard approach to examine the effectiveness of response and recovery communication in communities affected by natural hazards. 

There are three Hazard Notes summarising this research:

This Hazard Note (Hazard Note 80) applies well-established risk communications and psychological theory of human behaviour to determine whether emergency messages could be revised to improve comprehension. This research was conducted in 2018 and examined four types of warning messages – Prepare to Evacuate (Bushfire), Prepare to Evacuate (Flood), Evacuate Now (Bushfire) and Evacuate Now (Flood) – and found that messages with clear instructions are more likely to produce appropriate threat appraisal, as well as build a community member's self-efficacy and assist them in undertaking protective action. 

Hazard Note 79 examines how community members comprehend emergency warning messages, and outlines 10 specific opportunities for emergency services agencies to improve their communication and messaging.

Hazard Note 81 explores whether colours and icons help to encourage action during emergencies.