Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2024

Abstract

Community awareness is a key component of disaster resilience and numerous agencies developed a plethora of preparedness materials. Previous studies evaluated national-level resources and social media content indicating that these efforts are not effectively reaching vulnerable populations, as the information is provided at or above the secondary education level. However, the local-specific content has been mostly overlooked in the analyses, subsequently neglecting the needs of areas with specific demographics and hazards, like predominantly Hispanic border communities. Thus, this study turns to local preparedness and mitigation materials, rather than general internet searches or national level documents. We analyze information provided on 239 webpages of local authorities in Cameron county in the southernmost tip of Texas. We evaluate: 1) the availability of languages and visual materials, 2) the reading difficulty level, and 3) the suitability of content. Our results demonstrate the lack of suitable and readable information provided on the local authorities’ websites with the average readability level implying “difficult” to “very confusing”, and the average suitability score equivalent to “below average/ adequate”. Moreover, the lack of Spanish-language content indicates an underutilization of the otherwise vernacular language. We discuss those results in the sociocultural context of the border community.

Comments

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Publication Title

Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsem-2021-0052

Download

Available for download on Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Share

COinS