Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Information In Isolation: Gossip And Rumor During The Uk 2001 Foot And Mouth Crisis – Lessons Learned, Christine Hagar

Christine Hagar

The 2001 foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak con stituted the biggest crisis ever to affect the UK farming system; it was one of the worst epidemics of its kind in the world. Farmers and rural communities were disrupted and traumatized as FMD spread rapidly through the whole of the country. The crisis unfolded as a series of information and communication problems, primarily from government to farmers, with consequences for action in a time of crisis. Farmers needed information at the different stages of the crisis to inform them about the various processes and procedures that had to be carried …