The Rise of False Information: What the Kumamoto Earthquake Shows Us
Resilience practitioners in Kumamoto, Japan recently faced an earthquake which closed the airport, suspended travel, caused fatalities, and sparked a globally viewed rescue operation.
Alongside the response, authorities had to contend with false information such as fake emergency reports, fabricated rescues, conspiracy theories, and politically motivated divisive content from AI-generated images and videos circulating on social media. The situation demonstrated how crisis management now requires organizations to manage both the event itself and the information environment surrounding it.
Misinformation: A growing resilience risk
Misleading information has become an increasingly significant and persistent challenge for resilience professionals. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2026[1] identifies misinformation and disinformation as the second-placed major global risk over the next two years, and fourth-placed over the coming decade.
Despite growing concern at a global level, resilience professionals may not fully appreciate the risks. BCI research shows that gathering, validating, and sharing accurate information is the most significant challenge during emergency notification and crisis management activities,[2] but that misinformation and disinformation are ranked only 21st among mid-term risks expected to affect organizations over the next five to ten years[3].
This suggests that while practitioners recognise information management as a major operational challenge during incidents, many do not yet fully appreciate the growing threat of misinformation and disinformation.
Why does it matter?
Reliable information gathering is essential for effective decision-making.
Leaders rely on accurate information to make timely decisions during a crisis. False reports, manipulated imagery, or fabricated updates can distort situational awareness and lead to poor strategic and operational decisions. This can result in delays in responding to genuine issues, and an escalation of the crisis itself.
False information can also significantly damage an organization’s reputation. During an incident, it creates confusion, uncertainty, and negative perceptions among customers, employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders. The situation can become more damaging when an organization fails to quickly identify and correct false narratives. Left unaddressed, these can persist beyond the incident, causing lasting reputational harm and weakening stakeholder trust long after operations have resumed.
How can resilience practitioners respond?
To rise to the challenge organizations could identify trusted information sources before incidents occur. These may include government agencies, emergency services, partner organizations, subject matter experts, and internal reporting channels. Having pre-agreed sources reduces the likelihood of decisions being made on rumours or unverified reports during a fast-moving event. Information should be cross-checked across multiple independent sources wherever possible.
Social media monitoring can provide valuable early warning of developing incidents and emerging rumours. However, information gathered from these channels should be treated as an indicator rather than confirmed fact until validated through trusted sources.
During an incident, practitioners recommend maintaining a central, authoritative source of information, such as a dedicated crisis webpage. All communications should direct stakeholders back to this source. A single source of truth helps reduce confusion, supports message consistency, counters false narratives, and provides stakeholders with confidence that they are receiving accurate and up-to-date information.[4]
Practitioners can also include information processes in training and exercising activities. Exercises could include misinformation injects that require participants to manage conflicting information, respond to reputational threats, and maintain situational awareness under pressure.
Information resilience: A growing challenge
The ability to manage misinformation and disinformation is a rapidly growing core resilience capability. As AI advances enable more realistic content, and social media enables its rapid spread, organizations must be prepared to protect not only their people, assets, and operations, but also the accuracy and integrity of information relating to their organization, their response, and any incidents they face.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/08/04/japan/society/kumamoto-earthquake-misinformation/
