Use of Slack for COVID-19 disaster response in Hyogo Prefecture

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused great disruptions in education and healthcare systems. However, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hyogo Prefecture did not have a centralized system for sharing information among hospitals, public healthcare centers, the government, fire departments, and medical associations. In March 2021, we used Slack,® an enterprise social network, to invite people from hospitals, healthcare centers, the government, fire departments, and medical associations to join our workspace. This study was undertaken to verify whether the use of Slack can improve information sharing during a disaster.

A questionnaire on whether information-sharing tools such as Slack are useful for disaster response in Hyogo Prefecture, including for COVID-19, was administered using a Google Form.

Of the 19 people who responded to the questionnaire, 15 (78.9 percent) were first-time users of Slack and 18 (94.7 percent) found it easy to use. All 19 participants stated that Slack proved useful in providing pertinent information regarding preventive measures for the control of COVID-19, and they believed that it would be a helpful tool if such disasters were to occur in the future. Regarding the launch time of Slack, 11 respondents (57.9 percent) answered that it was launched at the appropriate time, while five respondents (26.3 percent) answered that it was launched too late.

The participants thought that Slack was effective for accelerating their communication. The use of Slack could also improve future disaster response communications.