This book explores what is required to adopt an inclusive approach to emergency communications in multilingual and multicultural societies. The increased frequency and severity of emergencies such as floods, fires and heatwaves is occurring at the same time that complex migration patterns are producing diverse multilingual and multicultural populations. This convergence raises two crucial questions: What does best practice now look like in emergency communications? And what are the barriers to doing this well?

Drawing on multidisciplinary expertise and reflecting on interviews with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, the arguments engage with the role and limitations of new technologies in emergency communication, as well as the challenges of social inclusion of vulnerable populations during emergency situations. This research offers important conceptual insights as well as practical guidance for leaders involved in emergency planning and disaster risk reduction.

Raelene Wilding is Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University, Australia. She conducts qualitative research with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, including older adults, young people and transnational families. Her work investigates practices of belonging and care as well as the uses of digital technologies to support social connection.

Natalie Araújo is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and Development Studies at La Trobe University, Australia, with expertise in qualitative, collaborative and co-design research methodologies and knowledge translation. Her work engages critical questions about access, equity and empowerment related to health and wellbeing, food and water security, sustainable development and climate emergencies.

Sabrina Gupta is Senior Lecturer in Public Health at La Trobe University, Australia.  With a strong emphasis on community-based approaches, her work focuses on improving health equity for migrant and refugee background communities by examining the intersections of ethnicity, migration, and health outcomes.

Samantha Clune is a Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe University, Australia who specialises in health and social services research. Her appreciation for the complexity of human experience and the contribution of environment to that experience influences work that seeks to understand the impact of health and social policy.

Emma Koster is an international and community development practitioner, technologist, and adjunct research fellow at La Trobe University, Australia. She has worked throughout Australia, the Pacific, and with displaced communities across Europe, utilising a practice of co-design, applied research methodologies, and trauma-informed design principles to develop social impact initiatives.