Risk communication and community’s safety in Hulu Langat during post flood hazards

In Malaysia, flooding can potentially have devastating effects. During the previous flood catastrophe, social media, notably Twitter, was heavily used to disseminate natural disaster information. However, focusing on various types of social media use during a natural disaster in a country like Malaysia, where floods can be severe, could result in the loss of both human lives and financial liabilities. Individuals who are at risk need to be made aware of the danger and precautions to take. Effective risk communication will have a greater influence on the community in terms of disaster risk mitigation in the future. Through risk communication, people can understand more of their acceptance of risk communication and use social media to get information about flood disasters. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between risk communication and community’s safety in Hulu Langat during post-flood hazards. This study was conducted quantitatively with 351 communities of Nanding, Hulu Langat participating in this survey. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and analysed descriptively and inferentially using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results showed the community has increased their awareness on risk communication and changed their behaviour towards it. The findings also showed the relationship between risk communication of community behaviour, of emergency agencies messages through social media usage and of risk perception towards community safety This study contributes an understanding of the factors that influence flood risk preparedness. As a result, the implications of this study can aid and may urge the community to pay more attention to the government's alert signal or information in advance of flood threats.