This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Diversity in social response to the 2022 and 2023 South Korea droughts. Credit: POSTECH
How do people's attention and actions change when a drought affects the whole country compared to when it is concentrated in one region? A research team led by Professor Jong-Hoon Kam from the Department of Environmental Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) analyzed news reports, social media posts, and internet search data using artificial intelligence (AI) during the 2022–2023 drought period. The team found that public views of disasters change depending on the size of the problem and its distance from people. The study was recently published online in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
A drought does not happen all at once. It usually starts as a meteorological drought, when rainfall decreases. It then develops into an agricultural drought, when soil dries out, and later to a hydrological drought, when water levels in rivers and reservoirs fall. If these physical droughts last for a long time, they can turn into a socioeconomic drought that affects industry and daily life. As these environmental changes happen step by step, people's awareness, emotions, and ways of searching for information also change. This idea was the starting point of the study.
The research team focused on how a nationwide drought in 2022 became concentrated in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions in 2023. They collected news articles, social media posts, and internet search records created during the drought period and analyzed them using AI based on natural language processing. This allowed them to measure how public interest, emotions, and behavior changed as the scale of the disaster changed.
The results showed that in June 2022, when the nationwide drought was at its worst, internet searches, news coverage, and social media posts all reached their highest levels. In contrast, in March 2023, when the drought was mainly limited to the southwestern region of Korea, local news coverage and search activity increased, but social media posts declined relatively. When the drought was a national issue, people spoke more. When it became a regional issue, people mostly just looked for information.
An analysis of emotions in news headlines also showed an interesting pattern. Throughout the study period, the emotions of "expectation," "anxiety," and "disappointment" appeared repeatedly. People felt hopeful when rain was forecast but felt disappointed when it did not come. This cycle continued throughout the drought period. This shows that media coverage and public emotions are closely connected during disasters.
The study suggests that disaster response should go beyond technical solutions to water shortages and consider public awareness and communication. By using big data and AI to understand social reactions in advance, drought warnings, policy messages, and response strategies can be designed more effectively.
Professor Kam said, "This study provides a new perspective on drought mitigation because it uses AI to analyze unstructured data like news articles and personal posts to understand social emotions and behavior during disasters. The results hint at how to improve future drought response and risk communication strategies."
More information Seunghui Choi et al, The interplay of news media, social media, and public search behavior during the 2022–2023 South Korea drought, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-06398-z
Key concepts hazardsdroughts
— Source: Phys.org (https://phys.org/news/2026-02-korean-extent-drought-areas-response.html)
