Political public relations and crisis communication of the government: The case study of the earthquake of 6 February 2023 in Türkiye

Abstract

On February 6, 2023, a massive 7.8 earthquake struck southeast Türkiye and caused killing thousands of people and leaving devastation across a wide swath of the country. In this context, this paper examines the government communications and crisis communication in the context of the disaster responses of the emergency management agencies during the earthquake of February 2023 in Türkiye in terms of image repair strategy and aims to reveal how the government responds to the opposing political circles' claims. It was concluded that the ruling party used communication channels intensively to refute the opposition's arguments and presented its own efforts and actions through visual and numerical proof and the main character of the government's crisis communication was based on highlighting what they made well.

On February 6, 2023, a massive 7.8 earthquake struck southeast Türkiye and caused killing thousands of people and leaving devastation across a wide swath of the country. In this context, this paper examines the government communications and crisis communication in the context of the disaster responses of the emergency management agencies during the earthquake of February 2023 in Türkiye in terms of image repair strategy and aims to reveal how the government responds to the opposing political circles' claims. It was concluded that the ruling party used communication channels intensively to refute the opposition's arguments and presented its own efforts and actions through visual and numerical proof and the main character of the government's crisis communication was based on highlighting what they made well.