A Report On Kerala Flood

A REPORT ON
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA DURING

KERALA FLOODS 2018
ABSTRACT
For almost 19 years social media has been used in crisis management.
During the time of natural disasters like flood, earthquake or cyclone,
when all the other modes of communications are found incapable,
these social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube etc. are found to be the most efficient and beneficial. The
present study discusses the role of social media during the Kerala
Flood 2018. Results show that during the flood; WhatsApp, Facebook
and Instagram are found to be used by majority of the respondents.
Most of the respondents spend more than 3 hours on WhatsApp
followed by Instagram and Facebook during the flood. For the
information regarding the location status of friends and family,
majority of respondents used Facebook followed by WhatsApp and
Instagram. During the flood, majority of the respondents used the
hashtag #Keralafloods, followed by #Keralafloodrelief, #cmdrf and
#Keralaflood.
INTRODUCTION
During the time of Kerala floods, various number of social media

platforms were set forth in order to pass on information regarding the
updates on flood. Many officials, including Ministers and collectors
were using their Facebook account to pass on information that was
authentic to prevent the spread of fake news. A lot of WhatsApp and
Facebook groups were created exclusively for sharing information on
flood. ‘Flood relief’, ‘Kerala floods’, ‘Rescue team’, ‘kaithangu’ were
some of the WhatsApp groups set up during floods in order to reach
help in the affected areas with philanthropic aids. ‘Anbodu Kochi’, a
social media group which was formed during 2015 Chennai flood,
used the indoor stadium of the Regional Sports Centre in Kochi as a
collection hub. Celebrities and officials were also helping them to
dispatch materials and urge the public to send more relief materials to
the collection centre. Abundance of user generated disaster
information was made available through many of social networking
sites. Link to Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund was shared
through social media platforms in vast number.
Kerala is a state on the south-western coast of India which receives
some of India’s largest rainfall during monsoons. During 2018 the
state experienced its highest level of rainfall which was 256% higher
than usual rainfall. Beginning on 15th of August 2018, severe floods
affected engulfing the entire state. The floods affected 774 of a total
of 1,564 villages, directly affecting 54 lakh people out of the total
estimated population of 3.5 crore. For the very first time all the
reservoirs of the State, including 34 major ones, become full between
August 8 and August 10. It was estimated that over 483 people were
dead, 15 went missing and more than 1 million people were left
homeless in the 3,200 emergency relief camps. All 14 districts were
under red alert. Out of 54 dams within the state, 35 were opened for
the first time in the history. Heavy rains in the districts Idukki and
Wayanad lead to severe landslides that left hilly areas isolated.
According to government of Kerala, one-sixth of the population of the
state had been seriously affected by the floods. The loss caused by the
flood have been estimated up to Rs 20000 Crore.
This study examines the inevitable role of social media during
calamities in the context of 2018 Kerala floods and how effectively
people make use of it for disaster communication and information
sharing. In recent years, social media has turned into an effective
disaster management tool during any kind of calamities or natural
disasters.
To solicit information about the role of social media during Kerala

floods 2018, a questionnaire was administered to 100 Malayali
students in Pondicherry University. The questionnaire contained
questions related to the use of social media in general and during the
floods in order to analyze the impact of social media sites during the
disaster.
The main objectives of the study are
1. To identify the different social media platforms used by the
malayali students during Kerala flood.
2. To find out the time spent by the students on social media during
Kerala flood.
3. To determine the purpose of using social media during Kerala
flood.
4. To identify the Hashtags used by the students during Kerala flood
TABLE 1
HOMETOWN WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
HOMETOWN NUMBER PERCENTAGE
Calicut 36 36
Thrissur 16 16
Mahe 5 5
Malappuram 11 11
Wayanad 4 4
Palakkad 6 6
Ernakulam 2 2
Trivandrum 6 6
Kottayam 5 5
Kannur 3 3
Alappuzha 6 6
TOTAL 100 100
It can be seen that a good number of respondents (36 percent) are from Calicut,
16 percent from Thrissur and 11 percent from Malappuram.
TABLE 2
Table 2 analyses the number of respondents having account in popular social
media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and WhatsApp
SOCIAL MEDIA SITIES NUMBER PERCENTAGE

Facebook 94 94
Twitter 14 14
Instagram 90 90
WhatsApp 56 56
Youtube 100 100
Findings indicate that all the respondents (100 percent) are having account in
WhatsApp, followed by Facebook (94 percent) and Instagram (90 percent).
TABLE 3
Table 3 analyses how long have the respondent been using social media sites.
Use of social media social media
Facebook 30 (31.91%),61 (64.89%), 3 (3.191%) ,94 (94%)
Twitter 7 (50%), 3 (21.42%), 3 (21.42%), 1 (7.142%), 14 (14%)
Instagram 17 (18.88%), 48 (53.33%), 25 (27.77%), 90 (90%)
Youtube 9 (16.071%), 32 (57.142%), 14 (25%), 1 (1.78%),56 (56%)
WhatsApp 55 (55%), 35 (35%), 4 (4%), 6 (6%), 100 (100%).
Major Findings and Discussion

Most of the respondents are having account in popular social media sites such
as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and WhatsApp. Majority of the
Facebook users have been using it for more than 2 years, followed by
Instagram. More than half of the respondents have been using WhtasApp from
more than 5 years. WhatsApp was used by all the respondents, followed by
Facebook and Instagram during the flood. In a similar study conducted by
Aisha, Wok, Manaf and Ismail (2015) it was found that WhatsApp was used by
the vast majority of the respondents during the flood followed by Facebook.
Most of the respondents spent more than 3 hours on Whatsapp, followed by
Instagram and Facebook during the flood. A good number of the Facebook
users used it for information on weather conditions followed by Instagram and
Whatsapp. A similar study conducted by Reute, Ludwig, Kaufhold, and
Spielhofer (2016) and the result shows that Facebook was found to be used by
the respondents in sharing information regarding weather conditions during
emergencies. Majority of Instagram users used it for road/traffic information,
followed by Facebook and Whatsapp during the flood. Most of the respondents
used Youtube for information on damage caused by the flood, followed
Facebook and Instagram. Majority of the respondents used Youtube for
information regarding Eyewitness photographs/videos, followed by Facebook
and Instagram. To know the location status of friends and family, majority of
the respondents used Facebook followed by Whatsapp and Instagram during the
flood. Similar study conducted by Yadav and Rahman (2016) and found that
Facebook was used by majority of the respondents for location status of friends
and family. Majority of the respondents used the hashtag #Keralafloods,
followed by #keralafloodrelief, #cmdrf and #keralaflood. Similar study was
conducted in the context of Chennai floods regarding the use of hashtags during
the flood by Nair, Ramya, and Sivakumar (2017). Large majority of the
respondents used Facebook safety checks and few of them used Google person
finder during the flood. In a similar study by Simon, Goldberg and Adini (2015)
shows that Facebook safety checks was found to be used by majority of the
respondents during the emergency.
CONCLUSION
Social media has become an inevitable thing in everyday life. During
emergencies it is found to be an important tool for disaster communication and
disaster management. The findings from the study show that all the respondents
made use of social media during the flood. The current study was undertaken
with the aim of analyzing the role of social media during Kerala floods 2018
regarding five major social media sites; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube
and Whatsapp. Among these five social media networks, Whatsapp, Facebook
and Instagram are found to be most effectively used by majority of the
respondents during the flood for various purposes.

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A REPORT ON

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA DURING

During the time of Kerala floods, various number of social media

To solicit information about the role of social media during Kerala

SOCIAL MEDIA SITIES NUMBER PERCENTAGE

Major Findings and Discussion

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