Demographic Factors in the Disaster-Related Information Seeking Behaviour.

Although demographics are important factors in the investigation of disaster studies, existing work on disaster-related information seeking behaviour (ISB) does not offer quantitative insight into the relationship between them. This paper investigates the demographic factors such as age, gender, location, and occupation, and their relationship with information needs, information sources, and information channels. Content analysis was performed on the testimony of 262 people who experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. The results suggest that a large effect was observed between (1) age and active information needs and (2) gender and information sources. Our findings can be useful for designing policies and programmes at risk of major disaster events as they offer multiple ideas about how to optimise disaster-coping plans for diverse communities.