Reading Comments 4 - Robert Letterman

Robert Letterman

Disaster Communication using Social Media

Social media is such an ever changing and evolving thing.  Its sometimes hard to keep up.  These days most of us can't even go part of the day without our cell phone.  But now that our phones can be turned into mass communication devices the importance of keeping up with technology for those of us in disaster response is even more important.

Ready for Disaster

I suppose that most communities and people think that what they see on TV won't happen to them.  It's interesting that every major crisis that happens serves as a wakeup call for the community or area affected.  But when will the rest of us allow these incidents to serve as a wakeup call for us?  It's important to identify the highest areas of risk that we can predict in our own geographical areas.

4- Communication Gaps in Disaster Management - Robert Letterman

Robert Letterman

Reference

Paltalla, P., Boano, C., Lund, R., & Vos, M. (2012). Communication Gaps in Disaster Management: Perceptions by Experts from Govermental and Non-Governmental Organizations. Journal of Contingenicies and Crisis Management, 2-12.

Theme

               Communicating during a disaster is always difficult.  This article analyzes the gaps in communications that occur and how to best  enhance communication during a crisis.

Summary

Crisis management and response is gaining interest in the public and private sector.

Much has been researched and developed in the field of crisis management as it pertains to public relations and image restoration.

The basis of crisis communications is to provide the public with information regarding the disaster.  Crisis communication really began in the field of public relations

The method used by the article is to take a more general approach to researching these gaps and not focus on specific singular incidents.

An online questionnaire was set up to collect information and data to determine the nature and frequency of communication gaps.

One of the issues that comes up during crisis communications is the blame game that occurs between public information officers and the media.

The media will often concern themselves with assigning blame to government agencies and responders.

Despite the fact that communications plans are in place but results from the questionnaire indicated that more practice and development in the field needs to happen.

Application to Lesson

Sometimes we can become too consumed with how we respond to disasters and incidents but we must not let ourselves forget the planning of communication that needs to be developed.

Application to Future Work

This article explains the importance of communication planning not just in the public sector but the private sector as well.  As someone who plans to work in emergency management in the private sector establishing and understanding how communication will be executed during a crisis will be beneficial.

4 - Disaster Communication using Social Media - Ashley Burningham

Ashley Burningham

Reference: Preston, J., Stelter, B. (2012, date). In Crisis, Public Officials Embrace Social Media. New York Times.

Theme:

Social media is a powerful and necessary tool in disaster communication.

Summary:
- Hurricane Sandy prompts officials to embrace social media.
-Governor's Twitter feed proves this: 400 messages on Tuesday, 300 on Wednesday, and well over 100 on Thursday.
- Governor responding to messages, he believes social media is highly effective.
- Governor's followers increased from 20,000 to 50,000
- Phone service has been spotty
- People were reliant on texting and social media more than previously.
- Officials embraced social media to spread the word.
- Still participate in press conferences, but simultaneously post to social media.
- Serves as a round the clock press conference.
- Before the storm, they used Pinterest to generate ideas for preparing for disasters.
- "Social media is an integral part of an emergency communication plan."
- Many people don't have access to a television or radio, but most have internet access.
- Power outage prevents use of tv or radio.
- Social media allows information to come straight from the source.

Application to the Lesson:

This weeks lesson was on disaster communication and planning. With this day in age, it has become more apparent that social media is taking over the process of a lot of things. It has become a new tool utilized by officials in getting information out. Because disaster communication involves social media, it is applicable to the lesson this week.

Application to Emergency Services:

In emergency services, the Public Information Officer is in charge of distributing information to the media and public. Because social media is so prevalent today, law enforcement agencies need to take advantage of it.

4 - Ready for disaster? - Chris Schippers

References:

Holland, R. J., & Gill, K. (2006). Ready for disaster? (Cover story). Communication World, 23(2), 20-24.

Theme: This article discusses the results of a survey of more than 600 IABC members to show that communication plans are not as common as they should be.

Summary:

·         A survey of IABC members reveals that crisis communication plans are not as widespread as expected.

·         More than likely a third of the most organizations are not prepared for a disaster of crisis to occur because they don't have a formal crisis communication plan.

·         Communicators who were prepared with a plan and used it found it effective 99% of the time.

·         The survey is given at a right time to gauge the extent to which organizations have developed and used crisis communication plans, and whether the plans are worth the time and effort to create.

·         Poor planning after Hurricane Katrina was noticed on a global scale and damaged the United States' reputation.

·         Organizational crises open the door for communicators to demonstrate their skills in planning as well as tactical execution.

·         Attacks on September 11, 2001 served as a wake-up call to company leaders.

·         Just under half of the communicators whose organizations experienced a crisis with no plan are actually doing something about it and the other half aren't taking any action.

·         The survey also revealed good news about the integration of crisis communication plans into organizations' overall crisis response and business resumption plans.

·         The article discusses an 11 step process of developing a crisis communication plan.

Application to the Lesson Topic: 

This article details with statics from a survey the critical importance of a need for planning and preparation for a crisis.  By having this plan in place the organization or people who are affected will communicate more efficiently and recovery will be much easier.

Application to Emergency Services:

This of course relates to emergency services because it is exactly what emergency personnel are trained to do, have a plan and respond to the crisis according to that plan by following SOP's.  Planning and communication go hand-in-hand.  There needs to be a plan when responding to an emergency and the plan needs to be communicated to every emergency personnel involved for the plan to work.

4 - Missing Summary - Mike Wayman

4 - Challenges of Disaster Communication Fieldwork - Jeff Neal

Reading Summary 4: Planning for Spontaneity: The Challenges of Disaster Communication Fieldwork

Jeff Neal

Reference: Horsley, Suzanne. (2012).  Planning for Spontaneity: The Challenges of Disaster Communication Fieldwork. International Journal of Qualitative Method.

Theme: Crisis Communication and disaster communication is difficult, and even more difficult to study.  Most events occur in places researchers have never been and have not planned for, with uncertain conditions.  This article discusses the challenges and benefits of disaster research and fieldwork.

Summary: The author of this article attempts to study crisis communication during disasters using the participant-observation of a disaster response with informal on-site interviews.  The challenge is that there are not many disasters and when they do happen most occur without much notice.  Researchers must be prepared to respond quickly and to areas were the conditions are uncertain.  Imagine responding to New York during 911.  Getting into New York was almost impossible and unless you were already in the area, fights had been grounded.  Planning for this event could not have happened.  This is the reason that there is little research done during disasters.  There are times researchers can respond. 2009 Red River Valley floods in Fargo, North Dakota is an example of this.  The author states that gathering information during disasters is critical for data analysis, theory development, and practical application. Benefits of observational research include the researcher not asking participants to perform in any unnatural way (i.e., filling out a survey or taking part in an experiment), but instead allowing the researchers presence to be accepted as they go about their business.

Application to the lesson topic: Planning is important to effectively operate in a disaster.  One critical element is research.  In the fire service we would always have a debriefing following an incident to discuss the good and bad strategies and tactics used during the incident.  The evaluation of data is what has helped develop current systems that are in place.   

Application to emergency services: It's extremely difficult to study communications during a disaster. Simulating the stress and situational difficulties that accompany a disaster is a challenge but could be the best approach to prepare for the actual event. Because when the disaster happens is on the job training which does not always produce the best results.

4- INTEROPERABLE INFORMATION - Joseph Galbraith

Joseph Galbraith

Lesson 4 Reading Summary

Reference:  Musavi, S., Memon, A., & Chawdhri, B. (2011). MODELING AN INTEROPERABLE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION NETWORK FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT FIRST RESPONDERS. International Journal Of Academic Research, 3(2), 17-25.

Theme: Major issues exist in the communications system in Pakistan in spite of their history of natural and manmade disasters.

Summary:

• Communication before, during and after a disaster is crucial to the survival rate.

• The two main communication problems discussed in this article are early warning systems and interoperable communications for responders.

• Issues perceived in this geographical region (South West Asia) were lack of both of these systems.

• Most emergency personnel depend on local cellular networks.

• Along with interoperability comes the importance of a centralized communication center such as an Emergency Operations Center and Joint Information Center.

• The region is very familiar with disasters both manmade and natural and still does not a have an adequate communication system.

•Early warning systems are crucial for storm, flood, tsunami, and volcano events. 

•Some issues identified with combating the advent of early warning systems are; lack of political will, weak communication among various actors and publics inability to realize vulnerabilities to disaster.

•The following are optimal for a good communications interoperability system and its planning for responders;

                - More sophisticated Vital Equipment

                - Backup Subscriber Management Center

                - Emergency Hot Lines

                - Paging Systems for Spreading Disaster Warnings

                - Rapid Up gradation Techniques for Base Stations during Response

Application to the lesson topic:

Communications is not only the most important thing for emergency services in dealing with disasters but it is also the most vulnerable piece of the emergency management framework due to our dependency on electricity.  Innovative techniques need to be developed to either develop and advance interoperability system or revert to primitive forms of communication in the event of loss of power.

Application to emergency services:

Emergency services have many communications interoperability problems in normal day to day operations.  A disaster will magnify these issues drastically.  In my place of work we have many problems that we need to work out in order to communicate with local public safety responders.  Exercises are key to working out these bugs and coming up with solutions that are resilient and that will work in the worst case scenarios.