Analysis of Post-Crisis Twitter Communication: A Study of the Iquique, Chile Earthquake

This paper examines the use of Twitter as a communication tool during post–crisis phase of the Iquique Chile Earthquake in 2014. Key questions addressed in this paper include (a) who are the participants (senders and receivers) and (b) what are the communication tasks that are performed by the use of Twitter during post–crisis phase? Ahmed and Sinnappan’s (2013) framework is used as a foundation to conduct this study whereby five hundred Tweets spanning five days after the Iquique Earthquake were analysed. The findings of this research suggest the vast majority of Tweets sent during post-crisis phase were focused on sharing information and disseminating alerts and warnings related to aftershocks and subsequent tsunami. Moreover, the individual community members are key participants in the Twitter generated communication. It is anticipated that the findings of this paper will extend our understanding on the key participants and the communication tasks during post–crisis phase