Using social media data to understand and assess disasters

Xiangyang Guan () and Cynthia Chen ()

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2014, vol. 74, issue 2, 837-850

Abstract: This paper contributes to the understanding of disasters from the perspective of social media activities. We develop a measure based on Twitter activities that can be used to quantify the evolution of disasters and thus demonstrate temporal–spatial patterns of Twitter activities particularly near the coastline and in large urban areas during Hurricane Sandy. We also show a close relationship between hurricane damages and Twitter activities. Our findings suggest the potential of using social media activities for rapid damage assessment. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Natural disasters; Social disruption; Social media; Temporal–spatial patterns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:74:y:2014:i:2:p:837-850

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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-014-1217-1

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