ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how climate change behavior inter-relates with disaster communication experiences and the challenges of communities experiencing geographical and socioeconomic isolation. In studying isolated communities in the Philippines, we found that information dissemination tools diminished due to weak communication infrastructure, geographic isolation, and socioeconomic factors. The research also confirmed that the government’s disaster information processes are primarily top-down. Prior disaster experience among all actors also plays a big part in efforts toward building community resilience. While the government’s stance is still very reactive, we found initial efforts to institutionalize community-based disaster risk management as preventative strategies. Lastly, despite national policies indicating the need to integrate climate change in disaster management, this amalgamation was not clearly observed in all areas. With these results, an understanding of information dissemination practices in the context of isolated locations is paramount to extend the scholarship on disaster communication ecology. Moreover, we argue that community engagement frameworks that integrate multimodal communication, robust interpersonal networks, and contextual intelligence are utilized in disaster risk reduction and management, and climate change actions in isolated locations. As the study focused on geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas in the Philippines, future research could explore applications in other countries.
