TY - JOUR
T1 - An analysis of web coverage on the 2018 west Japan heavy rain disaster
AU - Sato, Shosuke
AU - Imamura, Fumihiko
N1 - Funding Information:
The data collection performed in this work was supported by Kazumi Igarashi, who is a technician at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Fuji Technology Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/3
Y1 - 2019/3
N2 - This study analyzed quantitative big data from web news on the West Japan Heavy Rain disaster for a two-month period. The retrieved information was compared with previous natural disaster coverage. The results indicated the following. 1) For natural disasters that had occurred over the past 15 years, the “half-life period for media exposure” (i.e., the period in which the amount of news reporting halves) was approximately one week, while the half-life period of web media exposure on the West Japan Heavy Rain disaster was 24 days. Thus, the West Japan Heavy Rain disaster appeared to be the most significant social concern since the Great East Japan Earthquake. 2) The West Japan Heavy Rain disaster was large enough to affect both the Chugoku and Shikoku Districts, but the available human support was comparable to the extent of the human and material damages as well as the related amount of media coverage. No significant regional differences in the amount of media coverage or support were found.
AB - This study analyzed quantitative big data from web news on the West Japan Heavy Rain disaster for a two-month period. The retrieved information was compared with previous natural disaster coverage. The results indicated the following. 1) For natural disasters that had occurred over the past 15 years, the “half-life period for media exposure” (i.e., the period in which the amount of news reporting halves) was approximately one week, while the half-life period of web media exposure on the West Japan Heavy Rain disaster was 24 days. Thus, the West Japan Heavy Rain disaster appeared to be the most significant social concern since the Great East Japan Earthquake. 2) The West Japan Heavy Rain disaster was large enough to affect both the Chugoku and Shikoku Districts, but the available human support was comparable to the extent of the human and material damages as well as the related amount of media coverage. No significant regional differences in the amount of media coverage or support were found.
KW - Disaster information
KW - Media exposure
KW - The 2018 West Japan Heavy Rain
KW - Web coverage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068760352&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85068760352&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.20965/jdr.2019.p0531
DO - 10.20965/jdr.2019.p0531
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068760352
VL - 14
SP - 531
EP - 538
JO - Journal of Disaster Research
JF - Journal of Disaster Research
SN - 1881-2473
IS - 3
ER -