Greater Amman Municipality role in crises management and risk communications with citizens in response to COVID-19

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected crowded urban cities and public meetings, while substantially paralysing the healthcare systems worldwide due to its rapid spread. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a great challenge at the global level while putting heavy pressure on essential public services. The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed from a health crisis to a crisis of urban access, urban equity, urban finance, safety, unemployment, public services, infrastructure, and transport, all of which are the most vulnerable aspects embedded in a community. While much of the economy has been shut down, essential public services have continued across cities by placing municipalities at the forefront of the response to this unprecedented public health emergency. This is because; provision of public services, knowledge, attitude, and awareness about COVID-19 is crucial to overcome its pandemic status. In Amman (the capital of Jordan), the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is held responsible for managing public health emergencies. The GAM has taken several preventive measures to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of its spread across its directorates of regions, departments, and workers in the field. Several public health tasks and awareness campaigns were organised to end the pandemic and to enhance community awareness, especially in transport sectors, restaurants, parks, and slaughterhouses, which were completely supervised by the GAM [1]. Based on a survey that involved the citizens of Amman, the challenges that lurked in the municipal utility services due to the COVID-19 pandemic were identified. In particular, this study had concentrated on the awareness tools preferred by the citizens. It is crucial to delve into the present awareness strategies, as well as the preferred communication tools among the Amman citizens to promote dissemination of accurate information. This paper looks into the role of GAM in tackling COVID-19 by examining the level of public awareness regarding COVID-19, acknowledgment of the awareness campaigns launched to halt the spread of COVID-19, determine the preferred effective communication platform to share awareness messages among the citizens of Amman, as well as evaluating the overall awareness campaigns. Essentially, this study identified the respondents’ characteristics, social, and demographic attributes. The survey outcomes revealed that social media, particularly Facebook, emerged as the most effective information dissemination channel, followed by radio stations, websites, and television. Additionally, this study had probed into the role of a municipal utility in coordinating the response towards COVID-19. This study concludes that effective communication tools are crucial to keep people safe and healthy, ensure that the GAM functions well, while simultaneously keeping the community calm and confident in municipality abilities.