Digital Crisis Communication: Institutional Messaging and Empathy-Driven Narratives during the Sumatra Disaster

Abstract

This study analyzes the differences in digital crisis communication between political figures and influencers in responding to the 2025 Sumatra disaster. This topic is important because disaster communication in the digital era strongly influences public trust, solidarity, and crisis response effectiveness. Previous studies mostly discuss government disaster communication or influencer activism separately, creating a research gap in comparative analysis within the same disaster context. Therefore, this study formulates two main questions: how do political figures and influencers communicate during the 2025 Sumatra disaster, and how does the public respond to their communication styles?. This research employs a descriptive qualitative method with the 2025 Sumatra disaster as its locus. Data were collected through social media content analysis, observation of public interactions in comment sections, and relevant literature review. Data analysis followed stages of reduction, categorization, interpretation, and comparative thematic analysis. The findings show that political figures tend to use formal and institutional narratives emphasizing state legitimacy, but several officials delivered defensive and low-empathy statements that triggered public backlash. In contrast, influencers demonstrated faster, empathetic, and transparent communication through direct fundraising and on-site assistance. This study highlights a shift in crisis communication effectiveness toward emotional engagement and visible action. It recommends that government institutions adopt more empathetic, responsive, and accountable digital communication strategies.