Journal of Natural Disaster Science, Volume 36, Number 1, 2015, pp1-11

The Relationship between Local Residents and Media during the Recovery:
Lessons from “Star Disaster-Affected Areas” in Taiwan
Fuhsing LEE*
Katsuya YAMORI**
Takumi MIYAMOTO***Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University**Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University(Received June 2, 2014 Accepted January 13, 2015)
ABSTRACT
When a disaster occurs, some affected areas attract more media attention thanothers, and obtain more resources as a result. The problem of such unequal distribution
is considered to arise from unidirectional interaction between information senders (e.g.,
media) and receivers (e.g., local residents). To resolve this problem, we conductedinterviews to examine the concept of “star disaster-affected areas” and the relationshipbetween media and local residents of two disaster-affected areas in Taiwan: Shiaolin
Village and Huashan Village. We found that increased interaction for improving thesituation between stakeholders (residents, media, government, and supporters) benefits andaccelerates the post-disaster recovery.
Keyword: disaster reconstruction, “star disaster-affected areas,” disaster reporting,convergence

1. Introduction

equipment; and informational, the transmission of
messages. These phenomena constitute the “blank areas” problem.
Such theories have a common point in that they
focus on media and local residents separately, andstate that the problem arises from unidirectional interaction between information senders (e.g., media) andreceivers (e.g., local residents) in a one-way schema.
Perez-Lugo (2004) noted that, “According to thismodel, the media–audience relationship is strictly
motivated by its content, in which the media transmit
the official version of the situation, the audience passively receives it and then acts accordingly.” These
theories suggest that the media should strengthen thecriteria for acting as a reporter during interviews, oralternatively, that residents should improve their level

1.1. The Problem of Disaster Reporting
There is a long-standing issue that during a natural disaster’s impact and recovery phases, the media focuses its reporting on certain affected areas and can cause
an imbalance of resources, such as an unequal distribution of donations and funds.
Some aspects of this problem have been studied,such as media packages, sensationalism, and media
scrums (Anderson, 1997). Fritz and Mathewson(1957) discussed this problem and labeled the massive response to incidents as “convergence.” They
identified three types: personal, the physical movement of people by foot, automobile, or other vehicles;
material, the physical movement of supplies and1

F. LEE, K. YAMORI, T. MIYAMOTO

to those people. We observed not only confusion indisaster-stricken areas, but also a smoother recovery
progress in some areas. In contrast to previous research, our study views the residents as active players
rather than following the conventional view of residents as mere receivers, and views the media as being
concerned with the disaster rather than being mere
external reporters. Using this framework, we examine
two cases: Shiaolin Village in Kaohsiung County,
which was affected by Typhoon Morakot in 2009; andHuashan Village in Yunlin County, which was affected by a series of landslides following the 1999 Ji-ji
Earthquake. In particular, we discuss the problem ofmedia convergence during the impact phase in Shiaolin Village and the way that the local community
contributed to the relationship with media during therecovery phase in Huashan Village.

of media literacy. Without enhanced communication
between media and residents of affected areas, theproblems of “convergence” and the shortcomings ofsensationalism cannot be overcome. Therefore, breaking through the stagnation of the one-way schema is
an important issue.
1.2. Cases in Taiwan
In this study, we focus on the “star disaster-affectedareas” (ming xing zai qu) phenomenon in Taiwan,
which achieved ubiquitous use and recognition among
Taiwan’s government, media, and residents after the
Ji-ji earthquake of 1999. This term indicates the phenomenon by which an area severely affected by a disaster receives a disproportionately large amount of
resources, after being focused on by the mass media.
Such areas were relatively unknown before the disaster, but became famous suddenly afterwards. In contrast, the ignored areas were called “non-star disasteraffected areas” (fei ming xing zai qu). Little researchhas examined the reasons for and influences of thisover-reporting by media (Hsu, 2013). For instance,
Hsu (2013) explored the phenomenon of “star disaster-affected areas” created by the media in Taiwan andits consequences and found that factors associatedwith becoming a “star disaster-affected area” are theseverity of the disaster’s impact, the numbers of affected residents, casualty and death tolls, accessibility
to the affected area, and most importantly, the humaninterest and visual impact for better media storytelling. She also noted that “because reporters not only
produce homogeneous news, but also concentrate on
similar disaster-affected areas, some affected areas
become “stars” or “celebrities.” This phenomenon issimilar to the conventional “convergence” issue ofover-reporting; however, “star disaster-affected areas”
highlight the dynamic effect between local residents
and media, government, and other sources of support.
Moreover, although Hsu (2013) mentioned factors inbecoming a “star disaster-affected area” and provided
implications to facilitate disaster management, sheplaced greater emphasis on the media than on thepeople in the disaster-stricken areas.
This study aims to find the perspective of interaction and actions taken between people in disasterstricken areas with media reporters. In the Taiwanesecase, we see instances of local residents intentionallyconnecting with reporters, and the media responding

2. “Star Disaster-Affected Areas”
2.1. Disaster Reporting in Taiwan
Before understanding the phenomenon of “star disaster-affected areas,” it is important to know the media
background of Taiwan. After martial law was lifted in
1987 and democracy allowed to progress, there was ahuge change in the Taiwanese media industry. Most
notably, cable television became legal and widespread. In May 2011, there were 167 channels for a
population of 23 million people. There were as manyas seven 24-hour news channels, five networks, andfour major newspapers. In this competitive situation,
the media have to fight for ratings and revenue (Hsu,
2013). Clearly, disasters provide significant material
for media to use in the competition for ratings. Nevertheless, media reporting has been in disarray as a consequence of overusing satellite news-gathering equipment, misinformation, and excessive citing of
information from the Internet. The media have also
been criticized for placing an over-emphasis on human misery after natural disasters and on the terrorsof nature, and in the recovery phases, the progress ofrecovery has become intertwined with confrontation
between the two dominant political parties.
In contrast, there are also cases where disasterstricken residents and local governments use the features of media to solve problems after disasters. The
media also has business and moral motivations to try
to assist those people. In other words, the media phe2

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL RESIDENTS AND MEDIA DURING THE RECOVERY:LESSONS FROM “STAR DISASTER-AFFECTED AREAS” IN TAIWAN

2.2. The Tetrahedron Model
To determine how the term “star disaster-affected areas” reflects the interaction between stakeholders, including local residents, media, government and those
who affect the recovery process as experts and volunteers, we use the tetrahedron model of disaster mitigation theory (Okada & Ui, 1997) (Fig. 1). In the tetrahedron model, the main issue is obtaining support forthe people from government, mass media, and scientists. Okada (2008) reportedly developed this model
while working to predict the eruption of Mount Tokachi in 1988. Studying the 1974 eruption of Nevadodel Ruiz in Colombia, Okada considered that even incases where there was no good way to deliver correct
information to the local residents, hazard maps areuseless and it is important to help society understandscientific knowledge. He developed the model in1997 and applied it to the eruption of Mount Usu.
The four actors in the tetrahedron model are“Government,” “Mass media,” “Scientists,” and“People.” The model shows the connections among
the four actors and indicates that they should frequently work cooperatively rather than independently.
Fundamentally, disaster reduction research shouldlook at the function of each part in attempting to understand how the entire system operators. Okada &Ui (1997; translated from the Japanese by the authors)
noted that “scientists perform research according totheir own understanding without communicating withthe public,” “governments have money, organization,
and action; however, they also face economic pressure because they have to deal with issues of emergency, and disaster reduction and disaster research arefrequently forgotten,” and “the media like to use theirplatform to show the conflicting dialogue between
scientists, government, and residents, but this causes
confusion.” However, Okada & Ui also noted that thethree actors should “support the main actor, the people on the ground, strongly.” In this way, the tetrahedron model offers us a frame to discuss the relationship between the four disaster reduction stakeholders
compactly. Additionally, the way in which all the
stakeholders interact with each other closely is similar
to the phenomena in both “star disaster-affected areas” and “non-star disaster-affected areas.” This study
will therefore use the tetrahedron model to discussand analyze the relationship between stakeholders.
However, especially after the 1995 Great HanshinAwaji Earthquake, many volunteers or NGO/NPOs
have assumed an important role in response, recovery,
preparedness and mitigation for disasters, although
they were not so common when Okada & Ui developed the tetrahedron model. Those new actors should
be taken into account to understand the process of“star disaster-affected areas.” Therefore, in this study
we modified the model by replacing “Scientists” with
“Supporters” (Fig. 2). “Supporters” consist of re-

Fig 1. Tetrahedron model of disaster mitigation

Fig 2. Modified tetrahedron model used in this study

nomenon in Taiwan has been playing a leading role—in ways both positive and negative—in the disaster
impact and recovery phases. The term “star disasteraffected area” not only indicates these problems of
unbalanced resources and reporting, but also carries
the nuance that Taiwanese residents have the power toproactively influence the media according to theirneeds.

3

F. LEE, K. YAMORI, T. MIYAMOTO

searchers, experts, volunteers, and NPO/NGOs. As
for the remaining three actors, we defined “People” asresidents of disaster-affected areas. “Government” includes central government and local government who
are in charge of disaster management. “Mass media”
means national newspapers and national TV news
channels here.

used. Twelve in-depth interviews of local residents
and media reporters were conducted in Chinese andtranslated into English by the first author. Each interview was between thirty minutes and two hours long.
Table 1 shows the code, interview date, and basic information of interviewees (see Table 1).
Additionally, we investigated the content andnumber of news articles concerning the two cases tounderstand how the media reported on those two cases. Firstly, for television news, we used the TVBS-N
internet news article database, which is a high-rating
major cable news channel in Taiwan. The database includes the transcribed narration of news reports. We
searched the text of all programs that aired from April
2002 to April 2014.
Secondly, to search for newspaper articles, weused the internet database of two of the four mostpopular Taiwanese newspapers, Apple Daily (fromMay 2003 to April 2014) and UDN (from September
1951 to April 2014).

2.3. Method
We conducted two case studies of “star disaster-affected areas” (Fig. 3). The first study area is Shiaolin
Village of Kaohsiung County, which was the area
most damaged of all the areas by Typhoon Morakot in2009. This village was destroyed by a deep-seatedlandslide, with a death toll of over 470. After the typhoon, Shiaolin Village attracted substantially more
media attention and assistance than did other areas.
The second case of Huashan Village in Yunlin County,
which was affected by a series of landslides after the1999 Ji-ji Earthquake, concerns the long-term recovery process of the residents, who successfully conducted post-earthquake town reconstruction and developed new industry. The village went on to win the“921 Community Industry Reconstruction” award in2001 and was elected one of the “Top Ten Rural Villages” by the Taiwanese government in 2007.
Interview research by snowball sampling was

3. Shiaolin Village
3.1. Damage from Typhoon Morakot
Typhoon Morakot caused catastrophic damage tosouthern Taiwan during August 7–9, 2009. The Taiwanese government reported an estimated agriculturalloss in excess of 164 billion NTD (approximately 5.4
billion USD) and casualties numbered 699 dead or
missing (Environmental Protection Administration
R.O.C. [Taiwan], 2009). The most severely affectedarea was Shiaolin Village of Kaohsiung County,
which was completely destroyed by floods, deepseated landslides, and ground failures. Over 470 victims were from that village.
In the emergency period, the Taiwanese government and rescue organizations could not obtain information about remote affected areas due to outages of
essential communications. Consequently, such organizations relied on information from television media,
which played the most important role in transmitting
disaster information during the impact phase. Many
Taiwanese researchers criticized the government andrescue associations for relying on media reporters
rather than the central government, which led to thedisparity of aid (Hsu, 2013; Ma, 2009; Peng, 2010).
This forced reporters to go to remote affected areas,
speak with residents, and call in to news shows to de-Fig 3. Case study sites
4THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL RESIDENTS AND MEDIA DURING THE RECOVERY:LESSONS FROM “STAR DISASTER-AFFECTED AREAS” IN TAIWAN

Table 1. Interviewees in 2012
Meeting
Place

Meeting
Date

Taipei
Kaohsiung
City
TaipeiJapan
Kyoto
GenderKaohsiung
Shiaolin
YunlinHuashan

7/19

AffiliationA

M

TV News Reporter

B

F

TV News ReporterCF

TV News Reporter

D

M

Civil Servant

E

M

Code

F

F

Resident

G

F

Resident

H

M

I

M

J

M

K

M

Resident

L

M

Resident

Leader of HuashanCommunity Development Asso
ciation (2000~2004)
Leader of Huashan Community
Development Association(2012~present)
Leader of Huashan Community
Development Association(2008~2012)

Kaohsiung
Shiaolin
Village

8/19

䕿

7/20

䕿

5/12

䕿

8/12

䕿

2/28

䕿

2/29

䕿

YunlinHuashanVillage䕿䕿

YunlinHuashan

7/21

䕿

YunlinHuashan

7/22

䕿

YunlinHuashan

7/21

䕿

7/22

䕿

7/21

䕿

YunlinHuashan
YunlinHuashanscribe the situation (Hsu, 2013).
Under these circumstances, Shiaolin Village became a typical “star disaster-affected area,” as media
reporters, officials, and aid organizations swarmed tothis previously unknown village.

teams and donations preferentially going to Shiaolin
Village (Huang, 2012).
However, Shiaolin Village did not set out to become a “star disaster-affected area”; this was the result of a media scrum. Persons we interviewed indicated that residents criticized the media for reporting
only sensational scenes in the affected areas. One survivor of Shiaolin Village, a woman we call “F,” described her experience as a refugee as follows:

3.2. Typical “Star Disaster-Affected Areas”
Typical headlines of news articles about Shiaolin
called it a destroyed village, with over 400 dead. Media continuously reported on the catastrophe there,
despite a level of devastation similar to that in othernearby villages. As the rain continued, those communities became isolated and unable to obtain food, water, and medical resources. To understand the difference in media coverage between Shiaolin Village andits neighboring communities, we used the UDN andApple databases to search for articles over the sevendays from the onset of the typhoon (August 9–16,
2009) (see Table 2). There is a clear disparity in thenumber of news articles mentioning affected areas
such as Liouguei Town, Tauyuan Town, and Namasia
Town. This phenomenon resulted in aid and rescue

On August 14 we were refugees at the Rong
Feng temple. This place was a designated “reporters area.” There were many resources, but
the reporters came and interviewed us. Honestly,
I was too sad to take part in interviews. Relating
my experience only made me more depressed.
Another survivor, “G,” described her dislike ofthe designation “star disaster-affected areas”:
It was unpleasant to be focused on not because
our village is a famous resort… but because of5

F. LEE, K. YAMORI, T. MIYAMOTO

Table 2. News Articles and Disaster Circumstances of Each Affected Area
Town
Village

Disaster
Circumstances
Village
destroyed byflood andlandslide,472 dead

UDN(items)Apple Daily(items)Total(items)

54

33

87

Liouguei
BaolaiFlood, isolation

27

16

43

Namasia
Minzu

Village
destroyed bylandslide, 34
dead

26

7

33

Flood, 32 dead

26

7

33

Flood, 6 dead

23

7

30

Flood, 4 dead

9

9

18

Isolation

13

3

16

Isolation

2

2

4

Jiaxian
Shaiolin

Liouguei
XinkaiLiouguei
Xinfa
Tauyuan
Qinhe
TauyuanMeishanJiaxianGuanshanour misery due to tragedy. “Star disaster-affectedarea” means an area where many people died
due to an accident or disaster. I do not like thisterm.

After the emergency period, the victims’ families
claimed the damage was due to shoddy construction
work on the Zengwen Dam, conducted in 2004, andpressed the central government to take responsibility
and make reparations. The leader of the Shaolin Reconstruction Self-help Organization, “E,” described
how he raised awareness of this issue with the Taiwanese government and society, from a suggestion bya China Times reporter:

3.3. How Residents of Shiaolin Village Affected theMedia
The survivors and families of victims in Shiaolin Village did not simply suffer from being in a “star disaster-affected area.” They actively pressed media to assist officials and aid organizations with rescue andrecovery efforts. For instance, residents seeking missing family members asked reporters to help; theyknew it would be more efficient to utilize media inthis search than to directly ask rescue teams. A television reporter, “B,” described his experience as follows:A reporter from the China Times told me, “If you
really want to do something for your village, you
should tell CNN about this. Then the Taiwanese
government cannot ignore the situation.” He thenintroduced me to the CNN team.
E expressed to CNN his anger and view of thegovernment, his doubts regarding the dam work, andhis suffering. As a result, CNN reported on the tragedy and interviewed E, who said he lost his entire family and asked whether the government would take responsibility. CNN focused on the slowness of rescue
activities, criticizing the Taiwanese government. CNN
also interviewed Taiwanese president Ma, who said,“We will take responsibility for this case.” After thisA man came to me and asked, “My entire family
is still in Shiaolin Village. Can you please ask
the rescue team as a journalist if they are safe?”
As a journalist covering a disaster, I felt an obligation to not just work, but also do what I could
do to help the residents.

6

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL RESIDENTS AND MEDIA DURING THE RECOVERY:LESSONS FROM “STAR DISASTER-AFFECTED AREAS” IN TAIWAN

report, the Taiwanese media emphasized CNN coverage of the Shiaolin issue. On August 17, TVBS-N
mentioned this case, reporting that “President Ma
promised to take responsibility; it was a shame that
the Taiwanese government was criticized by the international media.

disaster-affected area has both positive and negative
aspects. We also found that both media and government acknowledged and relied on the subjectivity ofresidents rather than positioning them as helpless andpassive.
In addition to the concept of “star disaster-affected areas” such as the case of Shiaolin Village in the
post-disaster period, it is also important to understandmedia influences on long-term disaster recovery. Thisis addressed in the following section.

3.4. Efforts in “Non-Star Disaster-Affected Areas”“Non-star disaster-affected areas” did not passively
wait for the media, as they knew that media coverage
would ease the way for recovery efforts to begin. For
instance, residents in Xinkai Village, Liouguei Town,
wrote “32 dead, SOS” on corrugated cartons and hungthem from a bridge as an appeal for aid. This action
became a media focal point, and directly contributed
to obtaining aid. Residents in Meilan Village Tauyuan
Town told the Apple Daily, “The situation here isworse than in Shaolin Village. Please help us as soon
as possible” (August 13, 2009). As mentioned above,
residents in Guanshan Village felt that the media in
effect treated residents of Shiaolin Village as morehuman than themselves. Such villages issued criticalmessages to protest imbalances in news reporting andaid.
The residents of Guanshan Village were considered to have cited Shiaolin Village in an attempt to attract the attention of the Taiwanese media and society.
Examples of this occurred during not only the impact
period, but also the recovery period. For instance, victims connected with a media reporter to report trouble
between residents and one volunteer association. In
May 2010, victims were being moved into the Kaohsiung Da-Ai Permanent Housing Community, which
was constructed by the Tzu Chi Foundation, a volunteer association. Residents found rules established by
the Tzu Chi Foundation overly restrictive regarding
their traditions and lifestyle. Residents related this toa television news reporter “B” as follows:

4. “Star Community” Huashan Village
4.1. Recovery from the 1999 Ji-ji Earthquake
Active media interaction is more important during therecovery period than during the impact period, because the public will otherwise quickly forget the affected areas. In Taiwan, some residents were afraid of
the area being called “star disaster-affected areas,”
which they thought carried negative connotations andthus would stop people from visiting. Such images ofcalamity are thus a barrier to recovery. Those areas attempted to escape from the “star disaster-affectedarea” label by becoming “star communities,” whichinstead would carry the connotation of a famous or
superior community or village.
This chapter introduces one village that avoided
the “star disaster-affected areas” term, instead becoming a “star community” in the recovery phase. The
village is Huashan Village in Yunlin County, which
was impacted by the 1999 Ji-ji earthquake. In 2002,
this village started the Taiwan Coffee Project. As Taiwanese coffee gained popularity, this community became a famous tourist attraction as a poor agriculturalcommunity. On April 20, 2006, the UDN Newspaper
ran an article headlined “The entire Huashan community smells like coffee,” which praised the village as a“star community.” This village also maintained agood relationship with the media and government, butthey still faced problems with their coffee industry in
the long-term recovery period. This section will examine how rural villages, like Huashan Village, convert their image from “star disaster-affected area” to“star community” and how they interact with otherstakeholders.

The residents told me that Tzu Chi is a Buddhist
group, but the residents are mostly Catholic. Tzu
Chi did not allow Catholics to put up crosses.
After I received this information, I asked Tzu
Chi for their response. Concerned about residents and media influence, they changed therules and allowed residents to put up crosses.

4.2. Stricken in Huashan Village
The Ji-ji earthquake occurred in central Taiwan on

Such cases indicate that being a star or non-star7

F. LEE, K. YAMORI, T. MIYAMOTO

Sep 21, 1999. Erjian Mountain experienced slope failure in that earthquake, turning the upper part of the
Huashan River and Kejiao River into sediment deposits and destroying Gukeng, a township in Yunlin
County. Following that, the downstream Huashan Village suffered frequent landslides and debris flow disasters, for example during the 2001 typhoons Toraji
and Nari. Huashan Village residents were thus facedwith repeated hometown recoveries, resulting in frequent media coverage.

held cooking classes for mothers, to help themdevelop new skills. After being reported on by
the TV news, the mothers became more confident and the government offered us more resources.
4.4. The Emergence of Star Communities
Coffee cultivation first began in Huashan Village in1940 during the Japanese colonial period, but had
been abandoned until after the Ji-ji earthquake. In therecovery period, residents and Gukeng Township officials rediscovered this history. The regional climate
and topography is similar to that of Central and SouthAmerica, and thus is suited to coffee trees. Huashan
Village entered primary industrial sectors such as agricultural coffee production, and tertiary industrial
sectors such as accommodation and food for tourists.
They also created a unique coffee brand, called Gukeng Coffee. This coffee project was successful, and attracted young people back to their hometown. Media
were also interested because domestically produced
coffee was a novelty. In 2003, the Yunlin County government and Gukeng local governments held the“First Taiwan Coffee Festival,” which was reported
on by UDN Newspaper as follows:

4.3. Avoiding the “Star Disaster-Affected Area”
Label
Huashan Village was a typical poor rural village. It
had a decreasing birthrate and an aging population
due to population outflow. Before the earthquake, themain product of Huashan was betel nuts from areca
palms. This is a low-cost crop, but the cultivation of
areca palms been criticized for its adverse health effects and contribution to debris in disasters.
After the Ji-ji earthquake Huashan residents were
urged to leave their hometown due to the risk of debris and landslide. Instead, they started developing a
coffee industry with the assistance of the HuashanCommunity Development Association (a resident association). They also began a nature conservation
project in conjunction with the Taiwanese Soil andWater Conservation Bureau. A former leader of theinstitution, “H,” described the media strategy employed to avoid a negative image:

Huashan Village has incited a coffee boom, andover 10,000 tourists have come to see for themselves. This resulted in a two-hundred million
NTD (approximately 5.9 million USD) economic
effect, and revision of its image as an area devastated by debris flow. The chief of the Soil andWater Conservation Bureau praised Gukeng as “amodel of recovery.” (November 3, 2003; UDN
Newspaper)

We had to show the media that we were not just
victims of disaster, that we had the confidence toovercome. We had to project a strong image infront of the cameras.
Having avoided becoming a “star disaster-affected area” through such projects, Huashan Village took
the next step—town planning. For this, the resident
association strategically increased interaction with themedia and government officials. The former association leader H believed that their community became
even better than before the Ji-ji earthquake thanks togood connections with the media. He described his
experience as follows:This success story, one of disaster recovery followed by unique product development, was frequently
reported on television. A TV news reporter, “A,” attributed Huashan’s fame to “a convergence of media
reporting on a small community.” Those reporters
also help Huashan avoid the stereotype of a “star disaster-affected area.”
4.5. Preservation of Star Communities
The path to becoming a “star community” is not always smooth. Huashan Village experienced new
problems as a result of its coffee boom, such as pollu-

We contacted the media to report what we were
doing in the recovery phase. For example, we
8THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL RESIDENTS AND MEDIA DURING THE RECOVERY:LESSONS FROM “STAR DISASTER-AFFECTED AREAS” IN TAIWAN

tion from increased tourism. Attracted by potential
economic benefits, external businesses brought competition for accommodation and food production. In
2004, there was a scandal in which coffee beans
mixed with cheap, imported Gukeng 3-in-1 instantcoffee products were discovered. This scandal was aserious blow to the image of Gukeng coffee.
In May 2007, after the accident, Gukeng coffee
was also harmed by internal dissension, and media
coverage turned largely critical. For instance, in anarticle titled “Gukeng coffee is going to sell their special coffee-making technique” (May 26, 2007; UDN),
Gukeng institutions were described as engaging indishonest practices. Furthermore, nearby communities
started to develop their own local coffee. Gukeng coffee was no longer unique and now tarnished by a negative image, bringing an end to the Gukeng coffeeboom. This shows the double-edged nature of media
coverage: Although it was instrumental in instigating
Gukeng coffee production, it was also a major factor
in its downfall.
Due to such negative experiences, Huashan Village has recently tried to promote education regarding
debris flow disasters, as well as ecotourism. Its relationship with the media is now less intense than during the recovery period. However, residents still needmedia help. For instance, “J,” the leader of the
Huashan Community Development Association from2008 to 2012 stated that:media, such as learning to use social networks such as
Facebook. Residents did not passively publish tourism information; they connected with media reporters
to request news coverage. They also mentioned thatthey learned not to accept media interviews without
considering the potential effect. They learned thatmaintaining balance with the media was difficult, but
important. “J” stated that:
I send friend requests to reporters on Facebook,and post pictures and event information on mywall. When reporters read this information, theycome to report on us. But I do not accept all requests. For example, I declined an interview
about the 2008 Moracot Typhoon, because we
did not suffer seriously from it. If I accepted theinterview, tourists would think this village isdangerous and would not come here anymore.
5. Discussion
5.1. The Tetrahedron Model of “Star DisasterAffected Areas” and Star Communities
Despite the differences between the Shiaolin and
Huashan villages, we can find common features byusing the tetrahedron model. As the cycle shows (seeFig. 4), when local residents need aid from the government or supporters, residents would first connect
with the media. The media would then criticize thegovernment or supporters who did not do their duty.
This resulted in government and supporters responding to residents with problems. This cycle leads to increased awareness by local residents of how media
can help them achieve their goals efficiently, such as

We became well-known because of the earthquake and the coffee boom, so we do not have toconnect with media as frequently as before tobuild our fame in society. Now, we need to havea long-term plan to develop our village, and topreserve nature. It would be unwise to put all ourefforts into coffee production.
Another coffee shop owner, “L,” had the same
opinion. He said,
Maybe the coffee boom was too fast for us. We
became overly media-conscious, despite notknowing the mechanisms of media, and being
ill-prepared for it. Our recent pace is a better balance.
Residents also took different measures to attract

Fig 4. Cycle of star disaster-affected areas
9F. LEE, K. YAMORI, T. MIYAMOTO

fighting for resources from officials and supporters.
As a result, local residents proactively approached the
media.
For instance, Shiaolin victims’ families followed
this cycle to investigate the safety of family members.
Residents also obtained financial aid from supporters
and the government, due to the political interest of
those two institutions. Neighbors of Shiaolin Village
also obtained relief aid as a result of their complaintsof unfair coverage. In Huashan Village, the negative
image as a disaster area was successfully converted toa positive image as a coffee town through their positive relationship with media.

siring to take advantage of the situation. This casedemonstrates the importance of a long-term plan
when dealing with the media. To become a “star community,” residents need a sustainable relationshipwith other stakeholders who can improve the maintenance of basic industries and enhance disaster prevention.
5.3. Overcoming the Problems of “Star DisasterAffected Areas”
The next step is trying to overcome these problems
with the label of “star disaster-affected area.” In thischapter, we examine this from the perspective of theintroduced cases.
First, applying the view from the tetrahedronmodel to a disaster-affected society, we find that evenstakeholders such as “government” and “supporters”
play roles in a complex and dynamic situation. As
when Shiaolin Village approached CNN, issues are
not strictly local events. When CNN and the Taiwanese media become involved, practically anyone canbe viewed as a stakeholder, rather than as an observeror reporter.
A second significant consideration is how toachieve cooperation for emergency response and recovery. Wu (2001) pointed out that a smooth recovery
depends on the activities and solidarity of the community. As a stakeholder in the tetrahedron model, themedia should not remain external to events, viewing
them as only a rich source of news, but should also
participate with parties to take responsibility. Doingso can significantly decrease misinformation in media
reports. As Yamori (2009) described, the concept of“joint and share,” means that all stakeholders shouldshare disaster information and become jointly involved for the sake of disaster prevention and reduction or disaster education. As Fig. 5 illustrates, there
is a need for a new collaborative and bidirectional relationship in the interaction between local residents
and the other stakeholders of the tetrahedron model.
In this model, each player should decrease their mutual distance and improve communication. In sum, as
the case of Huashan Village illustrates the concept of“star disaster-affected areas” and “star community”
has changed dynamically; therefore, the stakeholders
must consider and balance the negative and positive
aspects of “star disaster-affected areas.”

5.2. Three Problems with the “Star DisasterAffected Area” Label
Although the cycle can be beneficial, it has its shortcomings. Three in particular are described below.
(1) As we have described, labeling as a star or
non-star disaster-affected area results in aid disparity.
Media tend to emphasize “impact,” and this cycle
does not resolve this disparity; indeed, it can exacerbate the problem. To resolve this, there needs to be amore interactive relationship and association, on
equal terms, between stakeholders in the tetrahedronmodel.
(2) The media may publish erroneous information during the disorder of the impact period. When
media receive information and are pressured by local
residents, sufficient time for accurate fact-checking
can be difficult to obtain. As a result, receiving information with a high probability of being a scoop can
result in dissemination of misinformation. A civil servant “D,” who was charged with aid work, was seriously bothered by this problem. He said:
It is true that we have to handle the problem ofmedia information priority. If we don’t, the media will label us as “mamubuzen” [someone lacking sympathy]. This even happens in cases where
we visited sites and found no emergency. This isvery annoying, as we did not have sufficient
staff.
(3) The sustainability of positive news coverage
is an important issue. As the Huashan Village caseshowed, cooperation with media resulted in a coffee
boom, but this also attracted dishonest businesses de10

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL RESIDENTS AND MEDIA DURING THE RECOVERY:LESSONS FROM “STAR DISASTER-AFFECTED AREAS” IN TAIWAN

wan.pdf on May 19, 2014.
Fritz, C.E., Mathewson, J.H, 1957. Convergence Behavior
in Disasters; A Problem in Social Control. Washington: National Research Council.
Hsu, C.W., 2013. The Emergence of “Star Disaster-Affected
Areas” and Its Implications to Disaster and Communication Interdisciplinary Study: A Taiwan Example from
Typhoon Morakot. Natural Hazards, 69, 39-57.
Huang, I.Y., 2012. The Dilemma of Recovery: the Pressure
from Resources Distribution in “Star Disaster AffectedArea” (Fa zhan kun jing-ming xing zai qu ya

Fig 5. Revitalized tetrahedron model

li

da

zi

yuan

fen

pei

wen

ti

duo). China

Times (2012/Aug/6). Retrieved from https://tw.news.
yahoo.com / 發展困境 - 明星災區壓力大 - 資源分配

6. Conclusion

問題多 -213000146.html on Dec 19, 2014. (In Chinese).

To contribute to removing obstacles to disaster coverage, in place of the traditional sender/receiver dichotomy we used the lens of star versus non-star disasteraffected areas. We applied the tetrahedron model toillustrate how a positive interactive connection withmedia and other stakeholders might facilitate the recovery process. From the two case studies, we showedthat the residents were active players rather than mere
receivers, as is the conventional view, and that they
view the media as being concerned with the disaster
rather than being mere external reporters. Future research should explore ways in which residents, media,
supporters, and government could better contribute toactive interaction between Taiwan and other countries
and should assess this model with quantitative data. A
long-term view of the recovery process, such as thecase of Huashan Village, shows dynamic changes
rather than static activity. Hopefully, a transformationfrom a “star disaster-affected area” to a “star community” can help in the development of community during the impact and recovery periods after disasters.

Ma, S.Y., 2009. Study on the Institutionalization and Implementation of National Search and Rescue Resources
Dispatch System in Taiwan (Mo

la

ke

feng

zai

hou wo guo zai hai guan li ti xi diao zheng
fang

xiang

zhi

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m15.maxmac.com.tw/front/bin/ptdetail.
phtml?Part=c1-24 on Dec 19, 2014. (In Chinese).
Okada, H & Ui, T., 1997. Volcanic Hazards. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.111-116 (In Japanese).
Okada, H., 2008. Usuzan Hi no Yama to Tomo ni. Hokkaido
Shinbun Press, 164-166. (In Japanese).
Peng, Y.,2010. The Study of Disaster Emergency Communications (Zi xun chuan di bu zhong duan ren ben guanhuai zui you xian: tong xun chuan bo fang zai ji zhi).
National Communications Commission. (In Chinese).
Perez-Lugo, M., 2004. Media Uses in Disaster Situations: A
New Focus on the Impact Phase. Sociological Inquiry,74(2), 210-225.
Wu, J.D. ,2001. Voice from the Borderland-The Study of 921
Post-Earthquake Self-Moving Community Recovery in
Ho-hsin Village, Chung-liao, Nan-tou Country. Master
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