ABSTRACT
Government and emergency management organizations are increasingly using social media to manage natural disasters and stay connected with the affected community. This chapter reviews the current state of disaster management based on the three major stages of preparation, response, and recovery. It discusses three functions of social media in assisting organization-public disaster communication in those stages: information provision, inter-agency coordination and mobilization, and community building. Based on a content analysis of government tweets during Hurricane Harvey, this chapter further provides empirical data to illustrate our theoretical framework.
