Risk and trust in crisis communication. A qualitative study of information intermediaries in Ghana

Abstract

Crisis and disaster management organizations in developing countries are facing a challenging problem: the processes of urbanization vis a vis traditional societal organizations need for different approaches to communicate with the population. This paper aims to analyze the channels of communication during crisis situations in Ghana and how the processes of generating trust in traditional communities is negotiated by crisis managers. This study is largely informed by a series of interviews with nine top crisis managers and officials ascribed to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in Ghana. The results show that while government officials use media to communicate with urban communities and talk to the chiefs to communicate with rural communities, the urban public often decides to ignore the recommendations and the rural public usually adheres to the information.