Role of social media during Seti Flood 2012 Nepal

Nepal is highly prone to natural hazards like Earthquake, Floods, Landslides, and Glacial Lake Outbursts Flood (GLOF). Every year flood creates havoc during the monsoon period as it accounts for two-third of the total precipitation in the country. The rivers originating from the high Himalayan region are the perennial source of water for the downstream people. Due to high relief and unstable slopes these rivers carry high sediment loads and volume causing flooding downstream. People in the mid hills and southern parts of the country face floods every year and have been a routine for coping with them. Loss of agricultural land, destruction of the highway for a month and temporary water logging are some of the common examples reported in the media.




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If we trace back the media history of Nepal, Earthquake is well documented event. It may be due to the high number of deaths than the other events. Due to limited media, reporting mechanism and different perception of people, floods were not given space and taken as a normal event. However, the expansion of media into private sector after 1990s slowly incorporated these events in the mainstream media. Koshi flood 2008 was the one mega event which was covered by media very well during and after the flood. After this event, media started to pay attention for such events. Nowadays, due to the emergence of the social media the reporting mechanism has also been changed. During Seti flood, mainly twitter, facebook, YouTube and blogs played important role during and after the event. 

The flood event happened on 5 May 2012 around 9:30 morning. The first hit of the flashflood was the small settlement at Kharpani around 18 kilometers from Pokhara, a famous tourist destination. Eight houses in the village were swept by the sudden flood and a 25-meter high suspension bridge joining Machhapuchchhre and Sardikhola Village was also destroyed. The worst hit of the flood were students who were on picnic, tourists and people going to take a dip in the hot spring, and laborers excavating stones. The area lies in popular Annapurna Conservation Area Project and Machhapuchchhre Model Trek route also starts from the area. Altogether 72 people lost their lives including 3 Russian tourists.

After the first waves of flood at Kharapani, local people communicated it to the Pokhara via mobile, text messages and social media. Journalists accumulated that information and broadcasted from local community radio stations. Social media mainly twitter and facebook was used for collection and dissemination of the information. The District Administration Office, which is responsible for emergency management and rescue operation issued warning to the local community people at Pokhara. Due to digital technology revolution, people were able to capture videos and photographs of the event and were posted on YouTube and Facebook. Although, the internet users are not much higher in Nepal, it played significant role to communicate in Pokhara and Kathmandu. At first, People were assuming it as a Glacial Lake Outburst event and soon it was proven wrong with expert’s views which were shared in social media for public dissemination. Due to high traffic in the mobile network people used social media to update their whereabouts for the family.

(ICIMOD Facebook Page)

Other interesting fact was a video taken during mountain flights by a pilot was uploaded in YouTube showing the landslide events in High Himalayan region. That helped scientists to give first analysis in addition to the pictures shared in social media. Furthermore, the analysis of the possible cause of the event and damage were communicated by world renowned scientist in their blogs (The Landslide Blog by Prof. Dave Petley, Field report by Dr. Ranjan Dahal,  ICIMOD's preliminary report).  This was later published in ISSMGE Bulletin: Volume 6, Issue 4 by N. P. Bhandary et. al. The interactions on possible reason with theoretical debate even among scientists help public to get understanding of the science of disaster which was shared to wider publics through social media (See Comments section here and here). Later, ICIMOD team published another report with all possible explanation. In addition, charity groups were able to raise more funds to support victims by demonstrating the necessity via social media. 

In conclusion, the role of the social media like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Blogs are increasing nowadays in Nepal. The social media primarily played following roles during Seti flood event.

• It provided important information of pre and post disaster scenario of disaster area
• It made aware of the situation to those outside the affected areas
• Help to connect displaced family and friends particularly the picnicking students
• The information about rescue centers and resources available to those affected.
• To find the possible cause of the event and its recurrence probability.