Disaster Communication and Disaster Epistemology: Cultural Foundations of Knowing and Normalizing Crisis

ABSTRACT

This article investigates disaster communication as a process of disaster epistemology through which crises are culturally known, interpreted, and normalized. Based on a cross‐national qualitative comparison of Vietnam and the Philippines, the study broadens dominant secular models that conceptualize disaster communication as information delivery and behavioral management. The findings demonstrate that religion functions as a cultural foundation of knowing ‐ shaping how disasters are ontologically defined, epistemically explained, and morally evaluated. Rather than operating as fixed belief systems, religious traditions constitute a cultural toolbox that actors draw upon to make sense of uncertainty, causality, and limits of human control across disaster phases. By conceptualizing religion as a dynamic disaster epistemology, the article contributes to disaster communication research and offers practical insights for culturally grounded governance and communication design in disaster prone societies.