Social Media Applications in Crisis Management of Natural Disasters: Lessons for the Arab Region

Throughout history, nations have suffered natural disasters that inflict damage, spread chaos, and claim lives. In contrast to anthropogenic or human-made disasters that are usually limited in scope, a natural disaster can impact a whole country, or even a continent. Earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, landslides, and hurricanes, to name a few, are natural disasters that differ in form but can be similar in magnitude and death toll. The new century has witnessed the costliest natural disasters in United States history, with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Sandy in 2012, Irma and Harvey in 2017. Mexico was hit in 2017 with its strongest earthquake in a century, after Japan was hit in 2011 by Tōhoku, its most powerful earthquake on record. The aftermath of a natural disaster can be deadly if governments and other stakeholders do not implement efficient crisis management plans that effectively employ mass media. The same applies to individual citizens, who need to utilize every possible opportunity offered by technology and mobile access to mitigate the damage. Studying social media applications and their role during natural disasters could draw various lessons in crisis management for the Arab region. This article examines the role of social media in crisis management of natural disasters as it applies to both governments and individual citizens. It aims to determine whether social media applications can reframe the management of natural disasters and offer added value in comparison to traditional media. If so, how, and what, are its limitations? In so doing, this article outlines the strengths and opportunities of social media crisis interaction and weighs them against the weaknesses and potential threats of its use, in order to come out with recommendations on best practices for Arab citizens, governments, and organizations regarding the possible uses of social media in managing natural disasters.