Social media debate and criticisms in the postdisaster context: Attribution of responsibility after the Pedrógão Grande wildfire

Abstract

The causal attribution of extreme events poses a communicative challenge in connecting global climate change and local vulnerabilities. Alongside improved insights into climate models and sensitivities, enhanced understanding is needed of the social and discursive dynamics that shape the attribution of responsibility in extreme events and disasters. This article examines how responsibilities are attributed in the public debate on the 2017 Pedrógão Grande fire disaster, considered the worst disaster in Portugal’s recent history. It presents two studies that focus on the social media debate between 2017 and 2023. Study 1, examining N = 512 Facebook posts, offers a descriptive overview of the networked public debate, identifying the main patterns. Study 2, analyzing a subset of N = 176 posts that involve conflict and criticism, focuses on the distribution of responsibilities to various causal factors and explores how the relationships between climate change and local vulnerabilities were articulated. The results of study 1 indicate that blame was attributed predominantly to national authorities and politicians, with only a few explicit references to climate change. However, study 2 reveals a more nuanced concatenation of various causes and responsibilities where global and structural issues are connected to concrete actions and responsibilities. Therefore, it is concluded that, in the communication of extreme events and disasters, attention should be paid not only to the number or share of the causes mentioned but also to the storylines and discourses that connect those causes and responsibilities.