ABSTRACT
Effective communication is critical in many aspects of disaster research and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM). Many stakeholders are involved and need to communicate with each other to facilitate collaborative efforts in research and practice of DRRM. These stakeholders demand shared or specific language needs through provision of hazard and risk information that they understand and are useful for disaster risk reduction. This chapter provides insights on language needs in disaster research and DRRM. It argues that language needs are yet to be integrated in disaster research and DRRM. Such lack of integration is a manifestation of prevalence of ethnocentrism (e.g. Western hegemony) in disaster research and DRRM. Addressing language needs require not only translation of concepts and readjustment of their meanings, or ‘laymanizing’ them to make them culturally-acceptable but also participation of stakeholders in actual disaster research and DRRM. This happens only when it is part of the research or programme design. Activities that aim to be participatory should adhere to the principles of participatory approach. Ultimately, this paper presents some participatory methods and discusses how they contribute to addressing language needs, and fostering ‘language of the streets’ in opposition to ‘language imperialism’ in disaster research and DRRM.
