Disaster and Crisis Governance
The Global Risks Forum (GRF)
In a crisis people need to know what is happening, what to do and whom to trust, often before the facts are clear. Crisis communication is a governance function: it needs a mandate, coordination between agencies, accessible formats and a way to correct rumours. This page sets out how crisis communication holds or fails, the records that show it, and the office holders who decide what is said, by whom and when.
Crisis communications · National crisis centre · Exercise EX-67
| Warning | Meteorological service | Civil protection | Clear | Active |
| Evacuation | Municipality | Police | Overlap | Tasked |
| Shelter | Social services | Volunteer society | Clear | Active |
| Public information | Crisis coordinator | All | Gap | Unassigned |
Fig.Multi-agency coordination board. Design wireframe with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record or a live system.
Crisis communication is the public information function of a crisis response: telling people what is happening, what to do and when updates will come. It needs a mandate, coordinated messages, accessible formats and prompt correction of rumours. Government communication offices and emergency agencies hold the decisions.
For crisis communications, in GRF's situational-awareness reading, the map opens on population density, flood water and active fires with clouds now from NASA GIBS, framed on the Caribbean; 3 further NASA layers wait in the list.
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NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
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For crisis communications, in GRF's situational-awareness reading, the map opens on population density, flood water and active fires with clouds now from NASA GIBS, framed on the Caribbean; 3 further NASA layers wait in the list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
Layers and dates
Public trust and accessible information. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Authorities that wait for certainty leave space for rumour; those that speak too confidently lose trust when facts change. Stating what is known, what is not and when the next update comes keeps credibility.
Agencies, ministers, local officials and experts speak at once. Without coordination of key messages, contradictions confuse the public and slow protective action.
Messages in one language, on one channel or without accessible formats miss people with disabilities, migrants, older people and those offline.
False claims spread through social media and messaging apps faster than official updates. Monitoring and prompt, plain corrections limit their reach.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Risk communication | The exchange of information and advice between experts, authorities and people facing a threat so they can protect themselves. |
| Key messages | Agreed core statements that all spokespeople use so that the public hears consistent information. |
| Infodemic | An overabundance of information, accurate or not, during an emergency, as WHO uses the term. |
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designated crisis communication lead in plans | yes or no, by level | on review | Emergency plans | DECLARED |
| Languages and accessible formats used in public messages | count | per event | Public message archives | OBSERVED |
| Time to first official public statement | hours from event onset | per event | Message archives | OBSERVED |
| Public trust in government information during crises | share of respondents | periodic | Public surveys | ESTIMATED |
| Corrections issued to false claims | count | per event | Agency records | REPORTED |
| Communication issues in after-action reports | count by category | per review | After-action reports | REPORTED |
The topic as a computational graph: named sources feed the methods, an evidence review gates the outputs, and the decisions stay with the authorities that hold them.
Fig. 02Nodes carry their type, two metric rows and a state; connectors show what feeds what; dashed frames name the owners; the timeline is the cadence. Design of the pipeline, not a record of a run.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| WHO risk communication and community engagement guidance | Principles and practice for public health emergency communication | Free, WHO terms |
| OECD Trust Survey | Public trust in government institutions across member countries | Free, OECD terms |
| Official message archives and press releases | What authorities said and when | Public records, terms per publisher |
| After-action and inquiry reports | Reviews of communication in past crises | Public records, terms per publisher |
| Reuters Institute Digital News Report | How people access news, including in crises | Free to read, terms to check |
Disaster and Crisis Governance prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Government communication offices | Who speaks, how messages are coordinated and how often updates come | Comparative mandates and after-action lessons |
| Emergency management and health agencies | What protective actions to advise and how to explain uncertainty | Communication guidance and records of past events |
| Public service broadcasters | How to carry official information and correct false claims | Broadcast obligations and practice |
| Disability and community organizations | How messages reach people who are often missed | Accessibility practice and evidence from past crises |
In a crisis, people make life-and-death decisions based on what they hear. Clear, timely, consistent and accessible information helps them act; conflicting or delayed messages cause confusion and erode trust. Trust built in normal times is the main asset in a crisis, and it can be lost quickly through secrecy, contradiction or perceived unfairness.
Effective crisis communication depends on credibility, coordination and accessibility.
People act on information from sources they trust, which may be local leaders, community organizations or familiar media rather than national authorities.
Agencies agree messages and spokespeople so that the public hears consistent guidance through many channels.
Plain language, multiple languages, sign language, captioning and offline channels reach people that standard messages miss.
Crisis communication research emphasizes that communication is two-way. Authorities that listen to what people are worried about, and to what they are hearing from others, can address concerns before they harden into distrust. Feedback channels, community liaison and monitoring of public questions are therefore part of the communication system, not optional extras.
Testing messages with diverse audiences before crises. Results depend on context and may not hold under stress.
Surveys and studies of trust and information sources across communities.
Monitoring of how messages and rumours spread. Platform data access is uneven.
Assessment of how communication worked and how the public responded.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.