Crisis Communication in Times of Disasters: Public Perceptions on the Timeliness and Clarity of Safety Announcements: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This study examines crisis communication during disasters, focusing on the timeliness and clarity of safety announcements and their influence on public perception. Guided by the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), which explains how authorities strategically communicate during crises to protect their reputation and build public trust, a systematic literature review was conducted, analyzing  29 articles. Most studies employed qualitative or quantitative methods, with only a few using a mixed-methods design. The crises examined ranged from natural hazards, such as typhoons, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunamis, to health emergencies, including COVID-19, SARS, MERS, H5N1, and influenza, as well as aviation and organizational crises. Findings indicate that both local and international contexts emphasized the importance of participatory and bottom-up approaches, where communities are active participants rather than passive recipients. Effective strategies also rely on the use of dominant languages, interpersonal communication, clarity, and timeliness. Communities and organizations often trust community radio and social media platforms, such as Twitter, as sources of information that help at-risk residents make appropriate and necessary preparations. Delays caused by inconsistent or overshadowed information, unpreparedness, and slow responses decrease public trust, create confusion, and undermine public compliance. Based on these findings, the study recommends that authorities responsible for crisis communication employ multidimensional crisis communication strategies, enhance message clarity and comprehensibility, prioritize timely and accurate information, adopt participatory approaches, leverage diverse communication channels strategically, foster public trust through transparency, consistency, accountability, and empathy, implement proactive misinformation mitigation strategies, and continuously refine communication strategies based community or organization needs to improve future emergency responses.