Examining the Content of Disaster-Related Information Disseminated to a Migrant Population

Abstract

Many local governments, especially in Japan, disseminate multilingual disaster-related information to migrants as part of their disaster education programs to make their disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies more inclusive. However, little is known about the specific content of the information disseminated through such programs and how or why that content is selected. Using an example case of Okayama Prefecture in Japan and its principal city, Okayama City, the current study identifies the content of multilingual disaster-related information, as well as the assumptions behind its selection. To this end, the content of multilingual disaster-related information disseminated by these local governments was inductively analyzed, focusing on (1) what is and is not communicated, (2) how the government views the migrant population, and (3) their goals of information dissemination targeting migrants. As a result of conducting a qualitative content analysis on information disseminated by the Okayama local governments via information booklets and a YouTube video, it was found that the content was largely concerned with calling migrants to be proactive in taking preventive and harm reduction measures, as well as acquiring prerequisite knowledge (e.g., about disasters and their management). The underlying assumptions and expectations behind this content (e.g., how a behavioral change occurs and self-sufficiency as an expectation in disaster preparedness) are discussed, as well as issues associated with these assumptions.

Keywords

• disaster preparedness
• information dissemination
• migrants in Japan
• policy assumptions