Finally, topical analysis shows that Discussions and Co-Use of COVID-19 with other topics can boost citizens' engagement. On the other hand, health departments' pages experienced a sharp increase in engagement around COVID-19 communication as citizens sought information during the pandemic. Plain-text messages posted by country leaders attract the most engagement, while their COVID-19 communication tends to generate lower engagement. We note that governments and leaders communicate primarily through richer media (photos and videos), despite a negative correlation between media richness and user engagement. We evaluate the citizen's response under the frameworks of media richness and user engagement. This paper analyzes the Facebook communication of political leaders and health departments from 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. territory of Puerto Rico Wednesday.The COVID-19 pandemic led governments to rely on the versatility of social media to communicate with their citizens. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns the storm 'will bring life-threatening wind, storm surge, and rainfall hazards' to the Virgin Islands and the U.S. Martin is directly in the hurricane's path. President Donald Trump will be directly impacted by Irma as his 11-room $28 million Caribbean mansion on the island of St. The damage from Irma could add to the cost of emergency spending by the government. Read more: First Harvey, now Irma-is climate change to blame?Ĭongress is expected to debate a roughly $8 billion aid package to help in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in its Harvey recovery efforts. Some 60 people lost their lives in the storm.

The damage from Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane, could cost between $150 billion and $180 billion in damage Texas Governor Greg Abbott said last weekend. The storm follows Hurricane Harvey which made landfall in Texas August 25. Navy has ordered more than 5,000 military personnel, contractors and their families to be evacuated from Naval Air Station Key West.

Florida Keys officials said mandatory evacuations will begin for the small island chain's 80,000 population. Virgin Islands on Wednesday.įlorida Governor Rick Scott said Tuesday that Floridians should heed mandatory evacuation orders. The hurricane is expected to hit the U.S. Irma is the type of tropical cyclone that wipes everything, including all vegetation, clean from small islands,' wrote Anthony Sagliani, the Meteorological Operations Manager at weather data firm Earth Networks. It's so strong it is even showing up on scales for measuring earthquakes. The storm is most powerful ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. Irma strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane Tuesday with winds up to 185 mph. 'I am at a complete and utter loss for words looking at Irma's appearance on satellite imagery,' wrote Taylor Trogdon, a scientist at the U.S. The size of the storm left hurricane and weather scientists speechless. Hurricane Irma made landfall on the small island of Barbuda as a Category 5 hurricane Wednesday as it heads toward the U.S.

Irma hurricane track noaa