Can music improve tsunami preparedness? Lessons from Timor-Leste

Tsunami risk is already well known in many coastal communities, but translating awareness into sustained engagement and action remains a challenge.

For World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025, we worked with the Civil Protection Authority of Timor-Leste, UNDRR and local partners to explore whether music could help bridge that gap.

The results were not as straightforward as we expected, but they revealed important insights into how people process risk information.

A community event with a different approach

The activities took place in Dili, Timor-Leste, and centred on a community evacuation drill, educational talks in schools, and outreach through local radio.

To make these activities more engaging, we worked with local musicians to create a tsunami preparedness song. The goal was to complement official preparedness messages with a format that was emotional, memorable, and culturally familiar.

The song became part of a broader educational effort across schools and media.

In schools, scientists and musicians shared the classroom, turning lessons on tsunamis into something students could sing, question, and engage with.

The song was also broadcast on local media, and a team from Civil Protection and the musicians visited local radio stations to promote the drill.

During the evacuation drill itself, the song played while participants walked together to higher ground. The day ended with a live concert on the beach beside the 1995 tsunami memorial in Dili.

Measuring how people react to different messages

To understand how communication formats influence risk perception, we designed a risk perception study in collaboration with researchers from the National University of Singapore. We asked three questions:

• How do people perceive tsunami risk in Timor-Leste?
• How willing are they to take preparedness actions?
• Do different communication formats influence how people engage with preparedness messages?

We conducted two surveys.

First, a baseline survey before the campaign measured existing levels of risk perception. The results showed that awareness and concern about tsunami risk were already very high.
Second, after World Tsunami Awareness Day, we ran an online randomized experiment comparing two communication formats:

• a music video message (the tsunami song)
• a plain text preparedness message

Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two messages and asked about emotional reactions, relevance, trust, and preparedness intentions.

Results

The results suggest that tsunami risk was already well internalized among respondents prior to the campaign. That means that many respondents already had high concern and readiness - tsunami risk is not something new they needed to be convinced about.

In the baseline survey, concern about tsunami risk was high, and most participants said they were willing to take protective action.

In the post-event experiment, both the music-based and text-based messages performed well, with very high levels of willingness to prepare for a future tsunami across both groups.

The differences appeared in how people engaged with the messages. The musical message generated stronger identification and personal connection, while the text message scored higher on trust in the source, and concern.

In other words, music helped people connect and feel represented, while text reinforced clarity, seriousness, and institutional credibility.

Taken together, the findings suggest that these formats are complementary: music can help draw people in, while text can help anchor the message in practical guidance.

We also explored what was driving people’s intentions to prepare. People who reported higher levels of worry about tsunamis were more likely to say they intend to take preparedness actions. At the same time, people who had already taken action in the past (for example, participated in a drill or taken other preparedness steps) were much more likely to report future intentions to act.

Simply put, we found that worry about tsunamis was the strongest driver, and that past actions were strongly linked to future intentions. When taking these factors into account, we did not find a difference in preparedness intentions between the music and text message groups.

Key findings

• The music video did not produce statistically significant increases in behavioural actions or intentions compared to text alone.
• Risk internalization is the dominant predictor of preparedness intentions across models.
• Past behaviour strongly predicts future intentions.

Moderation effects

• Music shows stronger emotional effects and exposure perception among individuals with lower baseline risk internalisation, but weaker or adverse effects among those who had already internalized the risk.
• This suggests music may be better suited for engagement and raising awareness with new audiences, while text may be more effective for already-concerned audiences.

Interpretation

• Music primarily influences engagement pathways  (identification, emotional affect, and exposure perception).
• While behavioural intention is driven mainly by baseline risk internalization and prior action, not message format alone.

Lessons for risk communication

Use music to drive engagement

Music helped people connect more personally with the message and appears especially useful for attracting attention, creating identification, and supporting outreach in schools, community events, and public campaigns.

Use text to reinforce instructions and trust

Text-based communication performed better on perceived relevance, concern, and trust in the source. It remains critical for official guidance, alerts, and clear preparedness instructions.

Do not expect format alone to change behaviour

The study did not find that the music message on its own increased preparedness intentions compared with text. Preparedness intentions were shaped more strongly by prior concern about tsunami risk and previous preparedness actions.

Match the format to the audience

Music showed stronger effects among people with lower baseline risk internalisation, suggesting it may be especially valuable for audiences who are less engaged or less concerned. Text may work better for audiences who already recognize the risk and are ready for clear action-oriented guidance.

Use layered communication strategies

The strongest implication is not to choose between music or text, but to combine them. Creative formats can help open attention and reduce distance, while direct text can provide the clarity and institutional credibility needed for action.

The question, then, is not whether music works—but when, and for whom it works best.

Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch ([email protected]) is a risk communication specialist with a Master’s degree in Behavioral Science from the London School of Economics. He has led projects in more than 50 countries, working with organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank, UNESCO, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

His work explores how storytelling, music, and culture can strengthen disaster preparedness and early warning systems. He produced the UN-sponsored documentaries The Girl and the Tsunami and Forget Me Not, and co-produced Tsunami Ladies, which examine gender dynamics in post-disaster recovery. He is co-author of several risk communication guides and has trained public officials around the world to make early warning and preparedness efforts more effective.

Credits

A project with the Civil Protection Authority (CPA), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction ( UNDRR ) and UNESCO.

Supported by the Government of Japan. Produced by PACIFICO. Research supported by the University of Singapore.

This work was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the following people and partners:

• Artists: Otopsy, LYF, Etson Caminha, Malena.
• Song writing: Otopsy
• Music Producer: Diego Voloschin
• Producer and Director: Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch
• Camera: Ganjo & Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch
• Editor: Alejo Santos (SAE)
• Production Manager: Lety
• Local Studio: Lesu

Acknowledgements

The Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk at the National University of Singapore provided support for the intervention and evaluation and contributed to survey design and data analysis.

About PACIFICO Risk Communication

PACIFICO is a global consultancy specializing in creative risk communication and behavioral science. The team has worked in more than 50 countries affected by disasters, in partnership with organisations such as the World Bank, United Nations, NASA, UNESCO and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Their work explores how storytelling, music, and culture can support disaster preparedness and recovery. They have developed music-based risk communication initiatives for hurricane preparedness in Haiti and the Caribbean, tsunami awareness in Timor-Leste, climate action campaigns, and psychosocial recovery projects in refugee settings. In collaboration with UNDRR, they are also behind Tsunami Day documentaries such as Tsunami Ladies  (2020), The Girl and the Tsunami  (2021), and  Forget Me Not  (2022).

PACIFICO combines creative approaches with behavioral science tools to design, test and measure the impact of communication strategies, helping translate awareness into action. They have also worked across more than 12 languages—including Indigenous and local languages—to address linguistic barriers and connect risk communication with local worldviews, supporting early warning, preparedness, and community engagement.