Language challenges in earthquake science communication through mass media in Nepal

Abstract

The occurrence of earthquakes and the ongoing construction of structures without following building code have made immediate effective earthquake communication necessary in Nepal. Across the country, government and nongovernment authorities use different mass media channels to deliver earthquake-related communication to the public. Likewise, people depend on mass media as their source of information about related disasters and safety measures for various reasons. Nepali media are still a powerful information source and suitable for crisis communication in Nepal. The Gorkha earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, causing heavy losses of infrastructures and casualties. The disaster exposed a communication gap between science and society and indicated the need for an improved science communication strategy tailored to the Nepali context. Hence, this study aims to detect specific linguistic aspects of this potential gap between science and society, analyzing the frequency and impact of problematic linguistic features, namely English words, jargons, and complex structures in Nepali texts used to communicate earthquake information. A questionnaire survey was initially done on the perspectives of house owners and construction workers. Only a small percentage of participants (19.1%) ever grasped the information given to them about earthquakes.  The majority of them blamed their understanding problems on the communicators' use of jargon, technical terms, and communication style. Then, quantitative content analysis was carried out on the earthquake-related articles written by the experts and published in the Gorkhapatra, a government national daily, from 2015 to 2023. The quantitative content analysis of newspaper articles revealed frequent use of English terminology, technical words (jargons), complicated sentences, and passive voice. It implied that the linguistic problem of inaccessible science communication is significant, if not entirely, due to the usage of English terminology, technical words (jargon), and complicated sentence structures coupled with the prevalence of passive structures. Linguistic standards may be required to be adopted by science communicators for successful communication to empower communities to be better informed and prepared at large.