Rapid assessment regarding information and communication needs during natural disasters
The following assessment was designed to help inform future Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) approaches to natural disasters in Afghanistan. Located in a seismically active and mountainous region, Afghan people are at risk of avalanches, earthquakes, drought, flooding and other extreme conditions. The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index ranks Afghanistan as the 10th most vulnerable country in the world to climate change, which could exacerbate needs driven by decades of conflict, pervasive poverty, previous natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons learned exercises conducted after the 2018 - 2019 drought indicated a gap in communications with affected communities. As of 2021, there is still little known about the information needs of affected populations during natural disaster response.
This assessment used a remote key informant (KI) based methodology and purposive-convenience sampling for primary data collection. Among Community Leader Key Informants ( CL KIs), the most commonly reported natural disaster in the three years prior to data collection was flood (68%), followed by drought (64%) and locusts/pests (12%). This assessment finds that the most reported information needs regarding humanitarian assistance during/immediately following a natural disaster among CL KIs is information regarding available humanitarian assistance.
Explore further
