Category — Communications
Your Community in Dialogue: Promoting Public Discussions on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response
This past December, FEMA released its Whole Community Approach to Disaster Management. The theme of this program advocates a different approach to how the U.S. Government responds to disasters – now when things go disastrously bad, you simply cannot count on the government to solve all your problems. Successful emergency response and disaster recovery really boils down to the emergency preparedness and disaster response capability of the individual and, by extension, an individual community. This could be a mind bender for some to understand.
The first question which must be asked – have you reviewed the Whole Community Approach to Disaster Management? If so, do you agree with its premise? If you don’t agree, we encourage you to make your voice heard amongst your elected officials. If you do agree, then we strongly encourage you to become an emergency preparedness activist for your family, community, and amongst your civic leaders.
Before deciding which way you come down on FEMA’s new approach, we might suggest a few additional questions to ask yourself and pose to elected officials:
- Where does the funding come from to facilitate this new “whole community” approach?
- Who has the funding and equipment resources needed to implement the program locally?
- Is there training for individual communities to actually learn the process of becoming independently resilient?
- At what point will the Federal Government step in during a crisis when local resources fail?
We believe one of the very first steps in becoming a resilient community and individually accepting the role of “emergency preparedness activist” is to open up the channels of communication with public officials to become educated and learn what you can do and, more importantly, what your community can do with inspired leadership by local officials. We are launching a new blog series entitled Your Community in Dialogue to actively promote dialogue in public meetings. In each post we will share thought-provoking insights, and key questions for active members of communities to engage their community leaders.
We then ask you to share the results of your community conversations with other readers of this blog. Frankly speaking, unless active members of the public fully engage community leaders tasked with emergency preparedness and disaster response, most will never know if, or even how their community plans to deal with common extreme weather emergencies or, heaven forbid, the unthinkable catastrophic disaster scenario.
When you attend upcoming meetings with your child’s Parent Teacher Association, or elected officials, City Council, Board of Supervisors, Town Hall or Neighborhood Watch ensure that emergency preparedness and disaster response conversations makes it onto the agenda. In the midst of a general election year, elected officials typically are more focused on the needs of their constituents. Take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t take no for an answer and don’t let this very important issue be marginalized. Community leaders answer to YOU as members of the community! You are important and you have a voice! Use that voice to be an instrument for change and progress.
We would then like to know – did you get a substantive answer to your questions? Or do you feel you were simply blown off? By sharing your experiences (the good and the bad) as you engage in these dialogues, it will be of great help to all of our readership and truly promote an open, effective dialogue.
This blog series also just might prove once and for all that Social Media is good for more than idle “chit chat”. Let’s challenge social media to bring emergency preparedness to the fore front of community discussions. “Inquiring minds want to know?”
Watch for the first of Your Community in Dialogue blogs coming soon: Nuclear Power Plant Safety in Your Community. We look forward to hearing your comments and thoughts!
Facta Non Verba
April 3, 2012 No Comments
Social Media Just Won’t Go Away
While there are some folks in public safety who embrace the idea, many others are still on the fence or down-right resistant to the whole concept. If you are on the fence or holding social media at arm’s length, Brett Hicks is out to change your mind.
Brett has authored A Guide to Incorporating Social Media into Public Safety Communications. This 38 page “How-To” booklet will help you understand what social media can do for your agency and how to get started. The main reasons Brett sees for using social media in public safety are:
- It’s free. Tools like Facebook and Twitter are available at no charge.
- There are real world examples of how social media benefits public safety agencies (he describes some in the guide)
- It is not technically complicated.
One of the big benefits of social media is the ability to communicate more effectively with the population you serve. For example, The Los Angeles Fire Department used Twitter to update the public about the Chatsworth train derailment in September 2008 and uses it on a daily basis to update the public structure fires and other incidents. Facebook has set up Amber Alerts pages for all 50 states including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Another great way to use social media is for day-to-day basis is alerts for snow days and road closures.
Private companies make extensive use of Twitter and Facebook. They see the value in this form of communication. Ever so slowly the public sector is coming to recognize it as well. Part of this, according to Brett, is a cultural issue, some of it is generational , and some of it is just fear. But Brett reassures that “it is not as scary as some people think”. The top three things to keep in mind are:
- Get to know it and start slow.
- Choose your applications wisely and align the social media effort with your overall communications strategy.
- Monitor and manage the content from both directions (what you send out and what comes back).
Brett sees a number of areas where social media can help you including:
- To educate and inform the public during emergencies
- To educate the public before emergencies happen
- Fundraising
- Day-to-day alerts and messages
A key component is to develop a social media strategy which means you will need to
- Identify Your Audience
- Determine Objectives
- Identify and Understand Social Media Applications
- Agree on Investment of Resources (time and effort)
To give you even more fuel for fire, Brett also discusses Crisis Informatics, Social Convergence, and Social Dynamics which all add to the reasons to look at social media. Brett’s guide is an easy and practical read. It will help you understand what social media can do for you and how to get started. It is well worth the time.
About Brett Hicks
Brett is an Assistant Professor as several universities across many programs of study. He has been involved with the delivery of education for more than 15 years in multiple learning management platforms and educational modalities.
Brett possesses an extensive international background in curriculum development, social media implementation, and educational leadership. In addition, his professional accomplishments in health care administration, emergency management, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief brought him individualized and team recognition during over 19 years and practiced in countries such as the Philippines, Australia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan and Iraq.
Contact Brett at bretthicks58@gmail.com
Brett’s book, A Guide to Incorporating Social Media into Public Safety Communications, can be purchased at Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/a-guide-to-incorporating-social-media-into-public-safety-communications/18631667?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1
For those looking for even more information, Brett has also developed an undergraduate class at American Public University – EDMG321 Social Media Application to Emergency and Disaster Management. More at http://www.apus.edu/.
Article republished with permission from Emergency Management.
February 13, 2012 No Comments
SHOT Show 2012 SPOT Winners Announced!
Just prior to the commencement of SHOW Show 2012, we announced a giveaway promotion of two SPOT Instant Satellite Messengers in partnership with Globalstar. We are pleased to announce that our winners have now been randomly selected. Congratulations to Tim Kitchens of Rancho Cucamonga, CA and Michael Damkot of Purcellville, VA. We hope they enjoy the added security of knowing they now have emergency instant satellite communications capability at their fingertips in just about every corner of the globe! Thanks to all those who dropped by our booth during SHOT Show 2012 in Las Vegas, NV to enter. It was a pleasure meeting all of you!
February 2, 2012 No Comments
