Overview
Terror-related crises require the cooperation of many response organizations, while communication with the public in such complex emergencies is also demanding. The increasing use of social media by the public calls for an advanced knowledge of monitoring tools and communication strategies to respond to the public in this new dynamic online environment. A tool to assess terror emergency communication preparedness and to evaluate crisis communication performance complements this knowledge.
Authorities need to be able to monitor social media interactions to find out what people are worried about and develop communication strategies to help mitigate the crisis and prevent further harm.
The terror emergency communication framework offers public authorities a chance to evaluate preparedness and performance, based on what are currently considered best practices. This includes social media monitoring and formulation of communication strategies to communicate with the public in order to mitigate crises. The foundations of the framework are rooted in research on crisis communication and crisis management. Despite the rich existing body of knowledge on crisis management, an approach that would incorporate the dimension of terror involved in CBRN crises is currently lacking. The present framework on terror emergency communication seeks to bridge this gap.
More information on research on which the TEC approach is based can be found in the publications.