Identifying Disaster and Risk Communication Considerations with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities in Urban Areas in New Zealand

New Zealand's Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities, particularly overseas born migrants, face unique challenges in disaster preparedness and response. Differences in their experiences, socio-cultural backgrounds, and social learning impact how these communities access, understand, and respond to disaster and risk communication, such as preparedness messages, warnings, advisories, etc. Factors such as language barriers, lack of culturally appropriate guidelines, socioeconomic vulnerability, poor social networks and systemic marginalization and discrimination reduce their ability to adopt preparedness actions. Additionally, while CALD communities possess valuable skills and resources, there is a lack of awareness of these resources leading to them being overlooked in practice. Due to these factors, CALD communities are more likely to be differentially impacted by disasters. Yet, limited knowledge exists on the needs, existing resources and required support for effectively communicating with CALD communities. In this context, this paper utilizes qualitative data from two urban areas in New Zealand with high CALD populations to understand how CALD communities accessed, understood, and responded to hazard communication in the past ten years, what needs and gaps exist and how existing resources and skills can be leveraged to improve the effectiveness of existing disaster and risk communication. The study focuses on three groups - short-term residents (e.g. tourists, working holiday visa holders), medium term residents (e.g. work visa holders) to long term residents (permanent migrants) from CALD communities. The findings will provide insights on how communication with CALD communities can be improved in disasters and has implications for broader public health, climate change, and environmental communication as well.