Using videos in floods and bushfires to educate, signal risk, and promote protective action in the community

Videos are commonly used by emergency services agencies in natural hazard emergencies to communicate to the public about the hazard, its possible risks, and to promote protective action. To evaluate the efficacy of the videos being disseminated and amplified during an event, this research examined the extent to which different types of videos trigger risk perceptions, promote protective action, and improve knowledge about the hazard and impact. The findings suggest a video containing a smaller number of facts is most useful at impacting the public's hazard knowledge, visualisations (real-life or infographics) of facts helps improve knowledge, and videos highlighting the impact an emergency is having (or had) through people's experiences helped improve hazard knowledge, risk perceptions, and protective action intentions. Finally, while footage of a bushfire triggers threat perceptions and some coping appraisal, the style is not as useful for building hazard knowledge. The research extends visual risk literacy knowledge and offers practical guidance for agencies operating in high-risk environments seeking to achieve behavioural compliance. The research argues videos will continue to be an important tool in the public information and warning milieu for any risk event.

Automated summary

Videos are widely used by emergency services to communicate with the public during natural hazard emergencies. This research examines the effectiveness of different types of videos in triggering risk perceptions, promoting protective action, and improving knowledge about hazards and their impact. The findings suggest that videos with fewer facts are most effective in improving hazard knowledge, while visualizations and videos highlighting people's experiences improve hazard knowledge, risk perceptions, and protective action intentions. However, footage of a bushfire is less useful for building hazard knowledge. The research provides practical guidance for agencies operating in high-risk environments and emphasizes the continued importance of videos in public information and warning.