The celebrity disaster area effect: exploring the impact of social media on the distribution of humanitarian goods

Social media and public attention have resulted in an excessive concentration of humanitarian relief goods in high-exposure disaster areas and supply shortages in surrounding areas, which we refer to as a “celebrity disaster area effect”. This study uses system dynamics modeling and simulations to explore the impact of this effect on the humanitarian supply distribution during the 2022 Luding earthquake. We establish a celebrity disaster area effect measurement model that introduces a deprivation cost concept. We found that adjusting the overall public opinion to 70% of its current level is the most effective way to mitigate the celebrity disaster area effect.