Abstract:
Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to
establish
the association of communication
strategies and terrorism risk preparedness among
the residents of Nairobi City County.
Materials and Methods: This study followed a
mixed-methods design mainly of a questionnaire
survey complemented by observation,
key
informant interviews and document analysis,
The design
employed
the
Concurrent
Convergent (Triangulation) Parallel strategy.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of
Statistics, Nairobi City County has a resident
population of 4,397,073. A further estimated 2.5
million non-residents troupe to the city-county
daily for business and employment or as tourists
and travelers in transit to other counties.
Therefore, the target population for this study was
approximately 6.5 million. The study population
was drawn using stratified purposive random
sampling technique where the list of all the
sampling locations was categorized into four
strata. The sample size was 640 respondents who
were proportionately drawn randomly drawn
from four different strata.
addition, results showed that emergency action
and public education and terrorism risk
preparedness were positively and significantly
related (β=0.109, p=0.004). Governments that
fail to warn their citizens when aware of
imminent or possible terror threats will be
accused of failing in their duty.
Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy:
The study concludes that the use effective
communication strategies is critical for terrorism
risk preparedness, as they enhance message
reception and thus motivate preparedness
planning and action taking. This in turn can help
in detecting and thwarting attacks before they
happen, mitigate the impact of attacks, promote
public
safety during attacks, and build
community resilience. Therefore, the study
recommends that organizations, be they
government agencies, first responders and
corporates
should
incorporate
effective
Communication strategies into the overall crisis
preparedness plans, in order to enhance their
ability to communicate and respond effectively
during terrorism attacks.
Findings: Regression of coefficients showed that
research and alerts in communication and
terrorism risk preparedness were positively and
significantly related (β=0.293, p=0.000). In
Keywords: Communication Strategies,
Terrorism Risk Preparedness, Public Alerts,
Warning Systems
