Social Media for Disaster Management in Tribal Communities of Kerala: A Case Study of Kolathara Adivasi Village

Kerala has been facing floods for the last two years. The media, government, and citizens collaborate to address this situation. Voluntary initiatives and action group-oriented movements play a protuberant role in relief activities. Social media helped a lot in mobilizing resources and social support. The government used social media as an instrument to reach out to cases. Many young people of Kerala worked on social media, verifying information and passing it to the rescue team during the floods. The current research is a case study of the flood relief activities held at the tribal village Kolathara near Ambalavayal, Wayanad. Tribes from the Paniya group inhabited the village and endured poor economic and social conditions. Many of the families lived in the houses built by the government after the previous year's floods. Focus group discussions and intense interviews were conducted among the people, including opinion leaders of the community. Mobile phones and social media are used vastly in the village, which immensely helped during the floods. The study reveals the use of social media for emergency responses, facilitating rehabilitation, crowdfunding, and relief activities in the remote tribal communities of Kerala. The study explores new trajectories by proclaiming that the planned use of social media can efficiently aid disaster management.

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