Risk Communication after Disaster: Return Entry Following the 2008 Cedar River Flood

Abstract

Communicating risk to evacuated populations is challenging for emergency officials during the return-entry phase. Although decades of research focused on understanding relationships between risk communication and evacuation behavior, very little has been done to understand risk communication and return-entry behavior. This research examines risk communication during the return-entry phase following the 2008 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, flood. The results of this study indicate the following: (1) household reliance on information sources during the evacuation and return-entry phases is highly correlated; (2) as reliance on local authorities, local news media, and the Internet increases, the likelihood of returning after the official return date also increases; (3) evacuation destination characteristics are related to the likelihood of receiving the return-entry message; and (4) household demographic characteristics are related to the reliance on information sources during the return phase. This study aims to advance knowledge about risk communication during the return phase that can aid emergency managers in developing more effective strategies for communicating return-entry plans to evacuated households.