An analysis of natural disaster‐related information‐seeking behavior using temporal stages
Abstract
Since natural disasters can affect many people over a vast area, studying information‐seeking behavior (ISB) during disasters is of great importance. Many previous studies have relied on online social network data, providing insights into the ISB of those with Internet access. However, in a large‐scale natural disaster such as the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, people in the most severely affected areas tended to have limited Internet access. Therefore, an alternative data source should be explored to investigate disaster‐related ISB. This study's contributions are twofold. First, we provide a detailed description of natural disaster‐related ISB of people who experienced a large‐scale earthquake and tsunami, based on analysis of written testimonies published by local authorities. This provided insight into the relationship between information needs, channels, and sources of disaster‐related ISB. Also, our approach facilitates the study of ISB of people without Internet access both during and after a disaster. Second, we provide empirical evidence to demonstrate that the temporal stages of a disaster can characterize people's ISB during the disaster. Therefore, we propose further consideration of the temporal aspects of events for improved understanding of disaster‐related ISB.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis
Hsieh, H.-F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005) · Qualitative Health Research · doi:10.1177/1049732305276687 · Cited by 44,601 · see citing works
(2014) · Cited by 15,747 · see citing works
Wilson, T. D. (2000) · Informing Science The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline · doi:10.28945/576 · Cited by 1,460 · see citing works
Qualitative Content Analysis: A Guide to Paths not Taken
Morgan, D. L. (1993) · Qualitative Health Research · doi:10.1177/104973239300300107 · Cited by 1,269 · see citing works
Plummer, K. J. (2001) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781849208888 · Cited by 1,008 · see citing works
Twitter under crisis: can we trust what we RT?
Mendoza, M., Poblete, B., & Castillo, C. (2010) · Proceedings of the First Workshop on Social Media Analytics · doi:10.1145/1964858.1964869 · Cited by 955 · see citing works
The Turn: Integration of Information Seeking and Retrieval in Context
Ingwersen, P., & Jrvelin, K. (2005) · doi:10.1007/1-4020-3851-8 · Cited by 866 · see citing works
Processing Social Media Messages in Mass Emergency: A Survey
Imran, M., Castillo, C., Diaz, F., & Vieweg, S. (2015) · ACM Computing Surveys · doi:10.1145/2771588 · Cited by 804 · see citing works
Interpretations of Calamity from the Viewpoint of Human Ecology
Cutter, S. L., & Hewitt, K. (1984) · Geographical Review · doi:10.2307/214106 · Cited by 722 · see citing works
A model of information practices in accounts of everyday‐life information seeking
McKenzie, P. J. (2003) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/00220410310457993 · Cited by 606 · see citing works
Citizen communications in crisis
Palen, L. A., & Liu, S. B. (2007) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1240624.1240736 · Cited by 496 · see citing works
Extracting Information Nuggets from Disaster- Related Messages in Social Media
Imran, M., Elbassuoni, S., Castillo, C., Díaz, F., & Meier, P. P. (2013) · Cited by 387 · see citing works
Crisis informatics—New data for extraordinary times
Palen, L., & Anderson, K. M. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aag2579 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Social Media Use During Disasters
Liu, B. F., Fraustino, J. D., & Jin, Y. (2015) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650214565917 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Ten Criteria for Evaluating the Management of Community Disasters
Quarantelli, E. L. (1997) · Disasters · doi:10.1111/1467-7717.00043 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
Coping with Crises: The Management of Disasters, Riots and Terrorism
Donaldson, L. (1991) · Australian Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/031289629101600108 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Reconsidering the Phases of Disaster
Neal, D. M. (1997) · International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters · doi:10.1177/028072709701500202 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Reconsidering the Phases of Disasters
Brand, N. E. (1997) · International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Cho, S. E., Jung, K., & Park, H. W. (2013) · Media International Australia · doi:10.1177/1329878x1314900105 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Source preferences in the context of seeking problem-specific information
Savolainen, R. (2007) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2007.02.008 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Documentation Redux: Prolegomenon to (Another) Philosophy of Information
Frohmann, B. (2004) · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Communication and Terrorism : Public and Media Responses to 9/11
Greenberg, B. S. (2002) · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Tapia, A., Bajpai, K., Jansen, B. J. J., & Yen, J. (2011) · International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Crisis Management Europe: An Integrated Regional Research and Training Program
STERN, E. K., & Sundelius, B. (2002) · International Studies Perspectives · doi:10.1111/1528-3577.00080 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Sonnenwald, D. H. (1999) · UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Gender and Age Effects on Information-Seeking after 9/11
Spence, P. R., Westerman, D., SKALSKI, P. D., Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (2006) · Communication Research Reports · doi:10.1080/08824090600796435 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
New technologies in emergencies and conflicts: the role of information and social networks.
Coyle, D., & Meier, P. (2009) · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Media use, information seeking, and reported needs in post crisis contexts
Seeger, M. W., Venette, S. J., Ulmer, R. R., & Sellnow, T. L. (2002) · Cited by 68 · see citing works
MASS MEDIA PREFERENCES IN DISASTER: A STUDY OF HURRICANE DANNY
Piotrowski, C., & Armstrong, T. R. (1998) · Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal · doi:10.2224/sbp.1998.26.4.341 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Haiti 2010 earthquake—How to explain such huge losses?
Hou, L., & Shi, P. (2011) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Science · doi:10.1007/s13753-011-0003-x · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Organized Behavior in Disaster.
Fleming, G. J., & Dynes, R. R. (1972) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393972 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Information seeking in a flood
Ryan, B. (2013) · Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal · doi:10.1108/dpm-05-2012-0059 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Turner, D. (2010) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/00220411011038458 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Gómez, O. A. (2013) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Science · doi:10.1007/s13753-013-0015-9 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Getting ready for mega disasters: the role of past experience in changing disaster consciousness
Guo, Y., & Li, Y. (2016) · Disaster Prevention and Management · doi:10.1108/dpm-01-2016-0008 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Analyzing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
Kelman, I., & Glantz, M. H. (2015) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Science · doi:10.1007/s13753-015-0056-3 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Temporal information searching behaviour and strategies
Joho, H., Jatowt, A., & Blanco, R. (2015) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2015.03.006 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationThatcher, A., Vasconcelos, A. C., & Ellis, D. J. (2014) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.10.002 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Oral documents in concept and in situ, part I
Turner, D. (2012) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/00220411211277073 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Clemens, R. G., & Cushing, A. L. (2010) · Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/meet.14504701228 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Organized Behavior in Disaster: A Review Essay
Britton, N. R. (1988) · International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters · doi:10.1177/028072708800600308 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Arai, K. (2013) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Science · doi:10.1007/s13753-013-0016-8 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Media and bushfires: A community perspective of the media during the Grampians Fires 2006
Cohen, E., Hughes, P., & White, P. B. (2007) · Environmental Hazards · doi:10.1016/j.envhaz.2007.07.007 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Fu, K., White, J., Chan, Y. Y., Zhou, L., Zhang, Q., & Lu, Q. (2010) · International Journal of Emergency Management · doi:10.1504/ijem.2010.032046 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Farmers' Search for Information During the UK Foot-and-Mouth Disease Crisis - What Can We Learn?
Hagar, C. (2010) · San José State University ScholarWorks (San Jose State University) · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Oral documents in concept and in situ, part II: managerial decrees
Turner, D. (2012) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/00220411211277082 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Information retrieval in context: IRiX
Ingwersen, P., & Järvelin, K. (2005) · ACM SIGIR Forum · doi:10.1145/1113343.1113351
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- American Red Cross, 2011, Social media in disasters and emergencies
- Greenberg B.S., 2002, Diffusion, media use, and interpersonal communication behaviors, Communication and terrorism, 3
- Lachlan K., 2008, Age, gender and information seeking
- Powell J.W, 1954, An introduction to the natural history of disasters
- Priest S., 2006, Reading Katrina: Information sources and decision‐making in response to a natural disasters
- Ryan B.(2016). Developing an understanding of information seeking during the impact phase of a natural disaster (Doctoral dissertation). RMIT Research Repository Retrieved fromhttp://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:162001/Ryan.pdf.
- StempelIII G.H.&Hargrove T.(2002). Media sources of information and attitudes about terrorism. Communication and Terrorism: Public and Media Responses to 9/11 (pp.17–26).
- Stoddard E.R., 1968, Conceptual models of human behavior in disaster
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Pan, S. L., & Zhang, S. (2020) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102196 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
Global health crises are also information crises: A call to action
Xie, B., He, D., Mercer, T., Wang, Y., Wu, D., Fleischmann, K. R., Zhang, Y., Yoder, L. H., Stephens, K. K., Mackert, M., et al. (2020) · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.24357 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Pan, S. L., Cui, M., & Qian, J. (2020) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102143 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Panic Buying and Consumption Displacement during COVID-19: Evidence from New Zealand
Hall, C. M., Fieger, P., Prayag, G., & Dyason, D. (2021) · Economies · doi:10.3390/economies9020046 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Factors affecting individual online rumor sharing behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic
Luo, P., Wang, C., Guo, F., & Luo, L. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106968 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Cvetković, V. M., Renner, R., Lukić, T., & Aleksova, B. (2024) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app14188129 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Disaster privacy/privacy disaster
Sanfilippo, M. R., Shvartzshnaider, Y., Reyes, I. O., Nissenbaum, H. F., & Egelman, S. (2020) · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.24353 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Lloyd, A., & Hicks, A. (2021) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/jd-11-2020-0203 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Social and structural vulnerabilities: Associations with disaster readiness
Rao, S., Doherty, F., Teixeira, S. N., Takeuchi, D. T., & Pandey, S. (2023) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102638 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Scientometric analysis of ICT-assisted intelligent control systems response to COVID-19 pandemic
Sood, S. K., Rawat, K. S., & Kumar, D. (2023) · Neural Computing and Applications · doi:10.1007/s00521-023-08788-3 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
Granderath, J. S., Sondermann, C., Martin, A., & Merkt, M. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.778886 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Du, J. T. (2022) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2022.103172 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Chen, F., Lou, J., Hu, J., Chen, H., Long, R., & Li, W. (2021) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147522 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Disaster communication behaviors in the U.S. and China: which channels do you use and with whom?
Lai, C., & Tang, T. (2021) · Journal of Applied Communication Research · doi:10.1080/00909882.2021.1900588 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Risk Information Seeking Behavior in Disaster Resettlement: A Case Study of Ankang City, China
Shi, J., Hu, X., Guo, X., & Lian, C. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17197352 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Ke, Q., Du, J. T., & Ji, L. (2021) · Journal of Documentation · doi:10.1108/jd-10-2020-0173 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
LeNoble, C. A., Naranjo, A., Shoss, M. K., & Horan, K. A. (2023) · Occupational Health Science · doi:10.1007/s41542-023-00155-x · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Lee, S., Benedict, B. C., Ge, Y., Murray‐Tuite, P. M., & Ukkusuri, S. V. (2021) · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.24456 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Hodges, J. A. (2021) · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.24484 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Information Needs of Essential Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Quéré, M. A. L., Chiang, T.-W., Levy, K. E. C., & Naaman, M. (2022) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3555197 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Kim, K., Stephens, K. K., McGlone, M. S., Rabby, M. M. F., Murillo, R. M., Castellanos, S., & Faust, K. M. (2025) · Sustainable Cities and Society · doi:10.1016/j.scs.2025.106164 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Chakraborty, S., & Chaudhuri, S. K. (2022) · Library & Information Science Research · doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2022.101194 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Information behavior in crisis situations
Krakowska, M. (2020) · Zagadnienia Informacji Naukowej - Studia Informacyjne · doi:10.36702/zin.716 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Modeling the formation of the public's information needs in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak
Lu, H., Xie, J., Cheng, Y., & Ya, C. (2022) · Aslib Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1108/ajim-04-2022-0167 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Setthasuravich, P., & Kato, H. (2025) · Review of Policy Research · doi:10.1111/ropr.12645 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Innovative methods in health information behaviour research
Fourie, I., & Julien, H. (2019) · Aslib Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1108/ajim-11-2019-314 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
A brief history of tsunamis in the Vanuatu Arc
Roger, J. H. M., & Pelletier, B. (2024) · Natural hazards and earth system sciences · doi:10.5194/nhess-24-3461-2024 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Hope, E. S., McFayden, C. B., Jong, M. C. D., Crowley, M. A., Johnston, J. M., Davies, D. K., Olsina, O., Hewson, J. H., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., Davide, F., et al. (2024) · International Journal of Digital Earth · doi:10.1080/17538947.2024.2420821 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Wirz, C. D., Brossard, D., Curtis, K. J., & Block, P. (2022) · Journal of Risk Research · doi:10.1080/13669877.2022.2077413 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Lai, C., & Tang, T. (2022) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/00027642221132805 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Seeking and sharing information about the threat of nuclear war
Savolainen, R. (2023) · Journal of Librarianship and Information Science · doi:10.1177/09610006231219245 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Wang, X., Wuji, S., Li, M., Liu, Y., & Luo, R. (2025) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2025.104323 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Factors Influencing Disasters Information-Seeking Behaviour via Social Networking Sites
Alajmi, B. M., & Khalil, O. E. M. (2025) · Journal of Information & Knowledge Management · doi:10.1142/s0219649225500054 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Lachlan, K. A., Gilbert, C., Hutter, E., & Spence, P. R. (2023) · Atlantic Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/15456870.2023.2173363 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Kodaka, A., Nishino, A., Kanno, T., Onda, K., Tsubouchi, K., Suzuki, S., Yamaguchi, S., & Kohtake, N. (2024) · Progress in Disaster Science · doi:10.1016/j.pdisas.2024.100386 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
How an Online Health Support Community Responded to the COVID-19 Crisis
Knittel, M. L., & Wash, R. (2022) · Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) · doi:10.24251/hicss.2022.458 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Demographic Factors in the Disaster-Related Information Seeking Behaviour
Rahmi, R., & Joho, H. (2021) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_4 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citationFrom disorientation to preparedness: Information practices as scaffolding in acute crises
Alon, L., Malinoff, T., & Levkovich, I. (2026) · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.70078 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Re-positioning university libraries for relevance in a dynamic learning environment
Ansah, S. O., & Korkuvi, P. J. (2024) · Information Impact Journal of Information and Knowledge Management · doi:10.4314/iijikm.v14i2.5 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Effectiveness of Recommender Systems in Knowledge Discovery
Nyachama, K. (2024) · European Journal of Information and Knowledge Management · doi:10.47941/ejikm.1753 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Rahmi, R. (2019) · doi:10.11304/jims.18.13 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationWorking from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on employees and students
Piang, T. M. (2022) · Eximia · doi:10.47577/eximia.v5i1.148 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Why CSR communication also has good and negative consequences on a company's social responsibility?
Ismail, R. S., Karyaningsih, Chin, J., & Prabowo, T. L. (2022) · Jurnal Komunikasi Profesional · doi:10.25139/jkp.v6i1.4454
Measurement of Panic Buying in Individual and Social Level
Saleem, T., Ali, S. A., & Arafat, S. M. Y. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-10278-3_11
Pandeminin İlk Aylarından Bir İnfodemi Deneyimi, Türkiye
Özdenk, G. D., Çalışkan, C., & Özcebe, H. (2022) · Ahi Evran Medical Journal · doi:10.46332/aemj.1105865
Nursanti, S., Tayo, Y., Setyastuti, Y., Yunidharta, F., & Sulistiyowati, N. (2022) · Abdi Dosen Jurnal Pengabdian Pada Masyarakat · doi:10.32832/abdidos.v6i4.1540
Investigación en comportamiento informativo en Japón
Matsubayashi, M., & Sakai, Y. (2023) · Informatio · doi:10.35643/info.28.1.11
Information-Seeking Behaviors in the COVID-19 Crisis in Turkey
Güzeloğlu, E. B., Erten, E. Ü., Keysan, A. Ö., Zalluhoğlu, A. E., & Şentürk, B. (2023) · Advances in multimedia and interactive technologies book series · doi:10.4018/979-8-3693-0896-7.ch014
(2024) · Natural hazards and earth system sciences · doi:10.5194/nhess-2023-198-cc1
Social Media and Crisis Informatics Research in LIS
Dinh, L., Hong, L., Dumas, C., Patin, B. J. H., Ghosh, S., Li, L., & Khoury, C. (2024) · Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/pra2.1093
Exposure and Adoption of Social Dimensions During the Ukraine War
Sliwa, K., Klug, A.-L., Kušen, E., & Strembeck, M. (2024) · International Conference on Social Networks Analysis, Management and Security (SNAMS) · doi:10.1109/snams64316.2024.10883816
Creating space for climate justice in library and information science
Oliphant, T., Youngman, T., Hackborn, D., Nathan, L. P., & Patin, B. J. H. (2025) · Information Research · doi:10.47989/ir30colis52330
Tan, S.-C., & Ghazali, Z. (2026) · Cogent Social Sciences · doi:10.1080/23311886.2026.2698289
Yu, S. (2026) · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · doi:10.1080/09640568.2026.2690426
Farajkhah, K., & Çoban, E. (2026) · Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory · doi:10.1016/j.simpat.2026.103372
- Authors
- Rahmi, R., Joho, H., & Shirai, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Tsukuba (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Rahmi, Rahmi
- Venue
- Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-12-28
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 715-728
- ISSN
- 2330-1635 (ISSN-L)
- 2330-1643
- OpenAlex
- W2907157233
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 9.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Council
- National Science and Technology Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Public Relations and Crisis Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disaster Management and Resilience
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Earthquake and Disaster Impact Studies
- Keywords
- information seeking, natural disasters, Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, information sources, information channels, disaster communication
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
