The following list is by no means exhaustive, but it covers the sort of questions you might ask when reporting disasters. If you’re short on story angles, a quick glance at the list might suggest some options.
Short-term angles
• Who is most affected by this disaster? Who are the vulnerable groups? For example, children, women, the disabled, older people, minorities.
• What sort of rescue efforts are taking place?
• How is access to survivors? Are roads blocked? What's the weather like - and the outlook?
• What are the immediate relief needs?
• What are people doing to help each other?
• How is the emergency response being coordinated? Who’s in charge?
• Where are relief supplies coming from? Are they flown in? Are they bought locally?
• Have there been any appeals for funding? How much?
• What is the likely psychosocial impact of the disaster?
• Are there any disease risks? Cholera? Water-borne diseases?
• Any other risks? Snakes? Fighting? Banditry? Insecurity?
Longer-term angles
• Schooling and recreation for children
• Water supplies/utilities/health services
• Shelter
• Livelihoods
• Gender
• Coordination and transparency of aid effort
• Disaster preparedness and risk reduction
0 responses to "Disaster Tips #8 - a checklist of questions"
Please note that comments should not be regarded as the views of Reuters.
Leave a Reply
When you submit a comment to us we request your name, e-mail address and optionally a link to a website. Please note where you submit a website address, we may link to it via your name. By sending us a comment, you accept that we have the right to show the comment and your name to users. Although we require your email address, this will not be published on the site, and is only required to enable us to check facts with you, e.g. if you are making a claim we can not confirm easily. Additionally, if you would like your comment removed at anytime, you'll have to use this e-mail address when you contact us. To remove a comment at any time please e-mail us at blogs-(at)-reuters-(dot)-com (address obscured to avoid spam) specifying who you are and what you would like removed. We moderate all comments and will publish everything that advances the post directly or with relevant tangential information. We reserve the right to edit comments in order to maintain the quality of the comments, and may not include links to irrelevant material. We try not to publish comments that we think are offensive or appear to pass you off as another person, and we will be conservative if comments may be considered libelous. Reuters will use your data in accordance with Reuters privacy policy. Reuters Group is primarily responsible for managing your data. As Reuters is a global company your data will be transferred and available internationally, including in countries which do not have privacy laws but Reuters seeks to comply with its privacy policy.
