Risk perceptions and emotional stability in response to Cyclone Debbie: an analysis of Twitter data

In March 2017, a category 4 cyclone, ‘Cyclone Debbie’, made landfall across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region of Australia. Drawing on the social amplification of risk framework and the concept of emotional stability, this research aims to provide insight into the perceptions of risk and individual responses to the disaster event using Twitter data, facilitating future analysis of social media messages during disaster events. This study uses Twitter data collected from the GBR region before, during and after Cyclone Debbie. Findings revealed changes in emotional stability across the stages of the cyclone. The findings suggested that statements revealing lower emotional stability were associated with amplified perceptions of risk, whilst increased emotional stability attenuated perceptions of risk. However, this was not the case for the characteristic ‘empathy’, which may have contributed to amplified perceptions of risk. Preparedness was also found to portray higher emotional stability characteristics. The findings have implications for future research analysing social media messages, as well as for disaster planning and response strategies.