Tsunami warning dissemination in Mauritius

Abstract

Post-disaster communication surveys are important in order to improve future disaster warning efficiency. Mauritius, a small island nation in the western Indian Ocean, was in the path of the tsunami of December 2004 but experienced only minimal wave impact. This is fortunate because the results of this survey show very slow warning dissemination through the population. Television and radio were equally effective in disseminating the initial warning information, but television far exceeded radio's reach as regards mass awareness and information seeking in the hours after the danger had passed. The interpersonal communication of warning information was minimal, and the warning messages provided insufficient and, it seems, inaccurate information.