New technologies and citizen perception of thecommunication of emergencies

The irruption of new technologies has allowed a substantial improvement of information in emergency situations. This research presents the adaptation of the Catalan administration to different information systems to spread information on risks, catastrophes and emergencies. The spread of that information is analyzed together with the application of new technologies, especially Web 2.0, compared to the United States. Besides, the perception of the Catalan public opinion regarding the quality of the information and the mechanisms through which a crisis episode is reported has been studied.