System Dynamics Simulation of Information Diffusion Strategies for Typhoon Disasters: A Case from China Coastal Area

Abstract

ABSTRACT Zhong, Z., 2018. System dynamics simulation of information diffusion strategies for typhoon disasters: A case from China coastal area. In: Liu, Z.L. and Mi, C. (eds.), Advances in Sustainable Port and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 83, pp. 741–753. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The purpose of this paper is to probe into the diffusion and evolution of typhoon disaster information on the Internet based on system dynamics to explore new potential emergency management strategies. Reducing losses, both economic and societal, is the most important response to typhoon disasters. In addition to the destruction directly caused by a typhoon event, information diffusion problems such as information interruption, false information, information fragmentation, and information distortion are highly problematic. This paper built a quantitative simulation model underlying the mechanism of network information diffusion specifically regarding typhoon disasters. This paper then explored the internal influence factors and associated mechanisms of the dynamic model as they relate to the effective control and guidance of information dissemination. It was found that the proposed reference model involving information diffusion strategies for typhoon disasters can successfully capture the key elements and information diffusion mechanism. The system dynamics approach can effectively enable a macro viewpoint of information diffusion strategies and policies for typhoon disasters. This paper provides a model for evaluating policy for information diffusion strategies for typhoon disasters in a dynamic context, for China. It is shown to be valuable to information diffusion strategies testing and simulating based on the system dynamics perspective.