Disaster Communication and Climate Resilience: The Role of Regional Media in Public Preparedness in Telangana

Abstract

This review assesses how regional media may contribute to public preparedness and climate resilience in Telangana, distinguishing direct state-specific evidence from Indian and South Asian comparisons. The literature suggests that communication operates through a chain: locally meaningful risk information must be translated and disseminated through usable channels, trusted by audiences, interpreted as actionable, and supported by resources and collective capacity. The strongest Telangana evidence is about climate-risk perceptions and agricultural information use rather than disaster preparedness outcomes. Studies in Adilabad and dryland districts identify mass media exposure as relevant to farmers’ climate knowledge and perceptions, while a Zaheerabad study finds community media and NGO campaigns more salient than mass or social media for climate-action communication. Hyderabad newspaper research and a recent multilingual heatwave analysis also expose gaps between local-language coverage of weather extremes and explicit climate explanation. Indian cyclone and flood studies, and a stronger mixed-method community-radio study in Bangladesh, make plausible the contribution of local-language and trusted communication to protective action, but they do not establish a Telangana-specific media effect. The evidence therefore supports regional media as a potential preparedness partner—not a stand-alone cause of resilience. The principal research need is longitudinal, district-level evaluation linking actual media exposure and message qualities to verified protective behaviours, while measuring access and differences across language, gender, age, livelihood and connectivity.

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