Social Media plans for Emergency Management
The recent School shooting in Chardon Ohio raised questions across many fields. I’m lucky to have friends and classmates who were directly and indirectly involved in the response to the shooting. While I’m not an expert in all aspects of what happened, I was home that day and also got to see the view presented by the media which i’ve been able to compare with reports from those directly involved in the response.
What the media focused on was the flashy headline statements and emotional responses. this lead to several “gotch-ya” interviews with responders and such. The response was very well done with the normal chaos a real event causes. A friend with the Summit County EMA (neighboring Chardon) said they are reviewing the response and looking for improvements. One area under close look is the Public Information Officer planing.
At first there was no unified voice from the Incident Command, the press was just grabbing people and having them talk. Later at formal press conferences there were several people answering questions and at times giving conflicting information. But what really threw one speaker was a question from the press about where the public could get more information about the shooting on the web. They had no answer.
Follow up questions asked about comments made over text messages to parents from kids in the school, twitter messages, and even Facebook feeds. In each case the PIO’s seemed unaware of what was said through social media sources. Because there seemed to be disorganization at the press conferences the media would use that as “proof” they (the media) had the inside scoop and tried to drive the story to fit their needs.
This comes from a view by media that they are the gatekeepers of information. That they are the ones who decide what should be shared and what is important. After all, they are the professionals with the education in media and journalism. The average person is unable to tell what is good information and bad information. The average person can’t be trusted to think and has to be guided by the experts.
This is not true these days. With the Chardon shooting we saw Google record a spike in searches for the terms “Chardon School Shootings”; “Chardon”; “Who was the shooter at Chardon High School”. Most of these searches directed to media web pages or to forums on the topic of the shooting. Twitter had #Chardon and #CHSshooting trending early on. Many posts on Facebook referenced the shootings. People were looking for information on the shooting from other sources than the media.
So how does that apply to EM? How can an EMA make use of this? Why would an EM want to?
The why is easy, an EM can use Social Media in all phases of Emergency Management to better educate the end users of EM prepare, mitigate, give guidance for response and speed up recovery. The EM also can speak directly to the public with out the filter of media trying to tell the story the way they want.
The example of the Chardon shooting is how it applies to EM. The EM can use the “hash tag” searches on twitter to see directly from people on the site what they see. Google searches let you see what people are looking for in the way of information. This allows for faster and better response to questions and lets your PIO be better ready to answer questions from the media.
There are several things written on how to use Social Media for business, government and personal life. Much of this can be adapted to fit the EM’s needs. As EM’s know, no plan or program is one size fits all. This is why we use the all hazards approach in planning and training.
The first thing to consider is what you and your agency want out of Social Media. Do you want it to be an ongoing resource or do you want it to be a something you use as needed to provide information to the public or press? (keep in mind there is no reason you can’t have it as both.)
Once you decide you want to use Social Media it is very important to establish who is responsible for the use of it. Like with the PIO, it is key to have one voice. In the case of Social Media that is the limited number of people who have access to post information on the Twitter, Blog, web site, or Facebook page. Establishing how often the information will be updated or refreshed is best determined at this point.
For example, AnyCounty EMA wants to be able to use Twitter and Facebook to send messages and information to the public, a blog for more in-depth current information and a web page to provide a place to put long term information and gather links to other support web sites. AnyCounty EMA Director appoints two people to be the Social Media information team and a larger group of members to assist in guidance with review on the information. (as well as other support, such as adding new Social Media like Flicker, or dropping support of Social Media that has fallen in disuse like MySpace.)
The Director wants the Twitter account to send out at least one message a week to any followers and one “re-tweet” from other EMA Twitter accounts such as FEMA or the State EMA. Facebook update at least twice a month with at least one “share” from other EMA Facebook pages. A blog post once a month directed to the local citizens and one a month directed to the EMA employees that also would be useful to citizens. And the web page should be updated once a month for the calendar, and serve as a storage location for citizen messages from the blog.
Sue and Jose, the two appointed by the director to keep these updated, set up a task schedule and establish passwords kept in a secure location. They work with the IT department about setting up a web page and consider how these networks can be used in an emergency. They establish a “dark page”, a web page that is designed and ready to use but not on the internet yet. It is ready to go in an emergency and would replace the current web page for the EMA or allow the main EMA page to add a direct link to the “dark page”.
They also establish the Facebook page, set up the blog and twitter account. They take the extra step to gain “verified” status, a way for others to be sure they are dealing with the real AnyCounty EMA’s Social Media. They approach the Social Media group and suggest a Flicker account to allow the mass distribution of photos as well as an YouTube account for videos. The group wants to hold off on that for now, but supports the verified effort. Sue and Jose also encourage the Social Media group to support a change/addition to the Emergency Operation Plan to allow them to work with the PAO to prepare basic outlines of press statements that include sharing these Social Media sties. This is also agreed to.
When a hazard event happens, the Social Media team sends out immediate Twitter notices and “lights up” the dark page with a notice of the event. As the EOP is put in effect, the PAO starts off interview with “people can gain more information at www.AnyCountyEMA.gov or our Twitter feed @ACEMA, #Hazard” and answers several questions with that at the start or end of the answers. The Social Media team posts on the Facebook page and web page that they will update each at a set time and honestly answers questions with “at this time we do not know.” If the appointed update time comes and no new information has been received, the update states just that.
The Twitter feed is tracked for the hash tag name announced, and any variations on it that others might put out. It is also monitored, along with the Facebook page, for questions from citizens. the Social Media team responds to questions directly or by directing to web sites or blog posts that best answer the question, even at times writing the answers and posting them on the now live page.
Press conferences are still held, the media still tries to play “got you” with questions, but many people quickly turn to the source for information – AnyCounty EMA. The Social Media group also helps the EOC gain a view in the area from responses from the areas affected by the hazard and when photos are attached can even help direct resources to areas, aiding the damage assessment teams windshield view. By sharing photos from the area on Flicker or Facebook, the Incident Command Leadership can help expand coverage by the media to the area, possibly helping gaining Declaration of Emergency by State and Federal systems.
By clearly establishing who is to have access to and is responsible for keeping active Social Media tools active and ready you reduce the possibly of “rouge” people speaking to the public in a way that distorts or confuses the citizens. Well meaning advice from concerned employees with accounts can result in HIPPA violations, or even bad advice. Setting up Social Media in the middle of a hazard event will show people a confused and slap-together medium of delivery which could undermine the trust of the public.
By placing before the public direct access to the EMA a professional, thought out and prepared Social Media tools will further the EM’s support and encourage proper actions as recommended by the EMA. At the same time adding value to the citizen with timely advice and accurate, non-distorted honest information.
Continuity of Operations Plans for Businesses
It is funny how the world works. I plan on writing about Continuity Of Operations Plans (COOP) for Businesses and suddenly I get two interesting articles sent to me on that very topic.
The first comes from EMSSolutionsInc blog. It discusses the Thai flood and how it hurt the computer business. Most of the issue was that so many parts were made in the area that was flooded that even if a business had two or more suppliers of parts they both were in the same industrial park! This would be like having all your gas stations on the same block and thinking that because there are four different stations you have a diverse supply. But if the power goes out (or a flood) in that block suddenly you don’t have any gas stations. But you have a diverse selection of places not to get gas from.
The second comes from Chatham House, an independent analysis group with the goal of providing information to the public. The report: Preparing for High-impact, Low-probability Events: Lessons from Eyjafjallajökull covers many aspects of the volcano event but focuses on the effects on businesses.
Most businesses do not have a COOP plan. They mostly have back up of data, and maybe an off-site office that might be able to pick up the slack. But that is not a COOP. A COOP would identify key operational tasks that need to be done even in an hazard event. Governments are expected to still pick up the trash and collect taxes. A business needs to identify key tasks such as paying employees, making insurance payments, collecting amounts owed. This would be on top of the goal of keeping the business in operation or restored to full operation as soon as possible.
A COOP does not have to cost a lot of money, meaning you could set up a second office that is identical to the main office but leave it empty till needed. But that would be a major cost with no return. A better idea would be to identify those persons who would be needed in an emergency and the equipment that would be also needed. Also identify a back up location, an office or a leasing agent who can find you a space on short notice.
The identified personal should be informed of this, the equipment they will need to take with them should be labeled along with accessories. A few plastic boxes with supplies and to help with the transport of equipment is a low cost investment. This is good, but not all that is part of a COOP.
No business is 100% self-sustaining. Parts, goods, supplies all come from other sources, and in many cases, the sources have sources that have sources. A key part of any COOP is risk assessment of your supply chain. There is a need to look beyond the immediate supplier.
Example from a friend: He worked for an injection mold company. The company was worried that some of the key bulk molds all came from one company. They then bid out to three other sources to make 1/3 the bulk molds. It raised the price slightly but the company felt better with three suppliers in two states and another nation.
It turned out that each of the new suppliers felt that the production of the molds was to small to be worth the effort so they sub-bid to another company in Japan. This company ended up with all three contracts and would ship the bulk molds directly to the company but with different label’s. Yes, when the earthquake and tsunami happened the company that made the bulk molds shut down, this cut off the supply to the three companies and to the original company that had taken the step to increase supply reliably.
With todays “just in time” supply system a COOP has to take that into consideration. How long can you continue with business if your supplies get cut off due to an event half way around the world? This is not “what do we do if X hazard happens to us” it is “what do we do if our parts can’t get to us or to our customers. Lining up alternative sources or transportation might be a good choice if the cost is kept down. Finding local sources or pre-setting contracts for priority access might also be cost effective.
Your business won’t be profitable if you are not selling goods or providing services. A business has greater things to think about than a local government, you can be affected by events that won’t even bother your local city.
Here are links to the two sites I received:
http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/181179
Building on the idea that Mitigation is the key to all Disaster Response I have been taking a closer look at Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP). The main goal of a COOP is to be able to allow the continued functioning of operations in a disaster. Most information is aimed at the Federal and State governments through the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 51 and National Security Presidential Directive 20 (HSPD 51 and NSPD 20 respectively).
These two documents out line the national COOP and goals: to ensure that the Federal Government continues to operate in the case of a disaster or attack. This nation is very large, more like 50 little nations, and a disaster in the southern states won’t directly affect the Pacific North West. While the Federal Government will be busy sending aid and support to the south, people in the North West still need their Social Security checks, FBI investigation, Port inspections, etc. A plan needs to be in place to make sure those functions continue.
The Federal Government can’t go it alone, the nation is too big. So it has to work with State and Local Governments and their plans. To make sure that Local plans fit in with Federal plans and use the same terms, the Continuity Guidance Circular (CGC 1) was established.
That is great, but how does this fit in with Mitigation? When you remember that mitigation is efforts taken to lessen the risk and effect of a disaster, it fits well. By having an COOP that works and is tested, you allow the Local Government to continue to provide services even when its main site is out of commission.
Take for example a tornado. Major event if it runs through a town. La Plata Maryland in 2002 had such an event. The town suffered a major amount of damage in the path of the tornado, up to ¼ mile wide path of damage. But the rest of the town still expected their trash to be picked up, police and fire to show up when called, the water to work, zoning permits to be processed, court to be held, etc.
By having a COOP in place you allow those functions to continue with minimal disruption. You also allow for post disaster permit issuance to be preformed. After a disaster, people will want to tear down damaged buildings, replace or repair them, and others will want to make mitigation changes based off the disaster. (should people be allowed permits to build and expand homes in a flood plane?)
COOP’s also allow you to involve businesses with your plan. This helps them develop a COOP for their operations which will let citizens return to work and earn money to use to recover. By having a COOP you mitigate the economic cost of lost work and speed up the recovery process, the main goal of mitigation.
Next Post: COOP’s, not just for Government.
Mitigation is the key.
The glamour of Emergency Management is that idea the EM will be in charge of a Disaster Response, making the tough calls and directing resources and personnel. Just as the Firefighter thinks about how they would respond and attack a high rise fire or an EMS provider thinks about what to do for a medical or trauma emergency. This is natural as these are the “exciting” high profile events. But high profile events are not common.
The daily efforts of an EM is to analyze the likely disaster and plan for a response to that disaster. This means the EM will be putting their most effort into mitigation.
“Mitigation is the effort to reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters.” – FEMA (and about any text book on Emergency Management or disasters). This is the foundation goal all EM’s should have. Reduce the loss of life and property by performing activities that reduce the risks associated with a disaster and protecting the financial investment.
The core principles of Emergency Management are intertwined and neglecting one to only do the others will result in failure. But mitigation efforts has a greater impact on the other three principles.
An example of mitigation’s affect on preparation, response and recovery can be seen in this case: A city in North East Ohio was well known for its trees. Many of the homes were built in the 1950’s through 1980’s and Oak trees were the preferred choice for front yards. In the early 2000’s these trees now towered over the power and phone lines. The city noted an increase in downed power lines from the older trees reaching their life span. The Public Safety Director (the City’s EM) did a risk analysis of a sever wind event or ice storm and determined that with the older trees this could have a catastrophic effect on the City’s power grid. This mitigation step is identifying the risk allowing efforts to be taken.
The Director then worked with the city zoning committee to push for a zoning change that would limit the height of new or replacement trees near power lines. Meaning that no new trees could be planted near power lines that could grow tall enough to fall on the lines. Home owners could still have the front yard with trees in it just not the 70 foot Oak or Ponderosa Pine. The Director enlisted help from the local Arbor Day committee’s “the Right Tree in the Right Place” program and the local tree care companies to build public support for this zoning change. This mitigation step is a long term reduction of risk, reducing the need for response and recovery efforts in the future.
The Director then revisited the risk analysis to see what other issues could be expected from this (and while the zoning change took effect). One likely issue would be large amounts of tree limbs coming down after a wind event or ice storm. Working with the City Department of Transportation, who are responsible for debris removal in the City Emergency Operations Plan, and consulting with the City Arborist came up with an estimate of such debris for various years and severity of events.
Determination was made for where such removal would be consolidated, tools needed to respond to the different scenarios, and the human resources required. This mitigation step is planning for response and recovery.
The Director then secured contracts for debris removal and disposal from local and regional companies. This “locked in” pricing and gave preference to the City for their services. This mitigation step prepared the City for a disaster while the zoning change took effect and added in the response and recovery. Since most City disasters will generate debris, such a step aids in the mitigation for many disasters.
The Director then had the Fire and EMS departments conduct training on treating and aiding citizens struck or trapped by falling trees and tree limbs. To include trapped in a house or car. Such training would be useful in other situations but helps refresh the responders and their safety. The mitigation step aids in the response phase.
The Director also found funding to obtain additional chainsaws and wood chippers for the DOT. This would increase the City’s ability to handle internally a larger portion of a disaster and reduce the removal costs by converting tree limbs into mulch which could be used in a recovery phase as ground cover to prevent erosion as well as diverting it from the land fills with the associated costs of hauling. This mitigation step reduces the financial burden on the City.
The last thing the Director did was meet with business and homeowner groups to encourage them to carry insurance for wind and ice damage and tree fall. To aid in this the Director talked to the major insurance agents in the City to help by reminding their clients of the benefits of such insurance. This helps mitigate the financial effects of a disaster by allowing the businesses to return to production quickly and homeowners to get back to work and living in their homes.
As you can see the efforts placed in the mitigation phase reduced the burdens for preparation, response, and recovery phases.
Preparation first
One of the major rolls an Emergency Manager has is to prepare their charges for a disaster or hazard. The worst thing that could undermine others support for this would be for the EM to not be prepared themselves. This also includes an EM’s staff.
Reaching the larger audience is hard. Getting a whole county or city to prepare will not happen right away or reach all people. But your staff and even other department employees can be reached easily and checked on.
Your most valued asset is your staff and other employes. Nothing you have in equipment will work or be able to be used if you don’t have people to work it. As part of any Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), you need to have your people ready to continue to preform. The best way to assist with that is to make sure they have a car kit as well as a 72 hour kit at home.
This is a low cost thing to do a simple list of practical items to have on hand. Taking simple actions like making a car kit and 72 hour kit lets them feel better about staying and doing their job when a hazard event happens or they have to move to a back up location. They also will feel better about taking action to help in a hazard because they are ready to focus on the incident and not the need to take care of themselves.
Having a prepared staff and employees lets you not worry so much about people leaving or not being able to work. Of course you can increase support by supplying some aspects of the kits. Flares, tote bags, flashlights all are low cost and help show your interest in your employees well being.
Preparedness is not a negative.
Recently I was at a meeting as an observer, when the Emergency Manager spoke. One of the other observers made a comment that “he is so negative, what with this doom and gloom stuff”. I asked them to explain what they meant and was told that preparing for disasters just shows a negative attitude, and is depressing because you are just expecting the worst to happen.
I thanked them for explaining and gave it some thought. The EM was talking about training for a mass causality event with a local hospital and why they needed a little bit more overtime for it. How is that negative? Here is the city trying to be ready for a really bad event. Training and testing the response plans to make sure they worked and to spot early on problems.
As I gave it more thought, preparedness is not negative, it is not “oh the world is coming to an end, we’re doomed”. It is possibly the most positive stand a person, business, or city can take. You are saying “We are not going to be stopped by something bad. We are going to be ready for it, overcome it, and carry on”.
Planning, training and preparing for when times get hard shows a willingness to succeed and grow. You’re not going to just give up and sit and wait for others to come take care of you. By preparing you are maintaining control and looking forward to success.
This is why we have the four parts of Emergency Management: Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.
Going for the low hanging fruit
We have all seen it, people pushing an expensive but flashy project that costs a lot of money. And when you ask what better use could the money be used for you are treated like some kind of nut or that you hate what or who ever the flashy project is suppose to help.
The Emergency Management field is not any different. We see rural counties getting grants to buy APC’s, tractor trailer mobile command posts, Level 1 bio suits, send people off to specialized training for highly unlikely events. At the mean time they lack snow tires for county cars, have a handful of chainsaws, two generators…one for the Police and one for the Fire department.
Part of this is politics. The mayor or County Chairman gets to stand next to that 18 wheeler trailer that is painted black and has reflective letters saying (county/city) name Command Post. They pose and get in the news and papers. Everyone goes “oh and ah” and they get free campaign coverage to stay in that office or run for the next higher one.
But you won’t see the same thing with six chain saws and a portable generator.
The EM’s budget is going to be tight, so it is important that you get the most for your money. That re-election toy would be nice. A mobile command post is very useful, but that money could be used towards items that are more useful across the spectrum of hazards. Generators, tools, chainsaws, chippers and even bobcat style tractors all have more usefulness in a lot of different hazard events as well as daily use.
Stocking up on spare parts is another good plan. Chains break, oil and fuel get used, even spark plugs (while they still exist) get worn. Having quick set tents, folding tables and chairs as well as extension cables and power strips in “To Go” Boxes is worth exploring. In my Battalion we found that when setting up the Command Post it was the little things that really messed us up. Not enough power strips, extra paper and printer cartages, printer cables, extension cords, flip chart paper and markers along with duct tape now are inspectable items in the CP box for the company.
We learned the hard way, in training where you should learn, to do this. Training between police and fire should be done more often. This can be a lower cost option than sending one or two people off to train in another state. Do joint training locally. If you have a hazard event, it is going to be local.
How well does your police and fire get along? I’ve lived in a state where the police arrested a firefighter at a fire scene for not moving the pumper to let traffic through. I’ve seen a fist fight break out in NYC between the Fire and Police at an Motor Vehicle Collision. These two places had a long history of not talking to each other. Yet then we expect them to suddenly follow the National Incident Command System.
Getting the two to work well together lets you then start integrating other aspects of the community into the training. The DOT, CERT, Red Cross, et al will have rolls to do in a hazard event. But the hazard is not when you should be working together for the first time.
Local training saves money because you don’t have travel costs, can use the equipment you have on hand (and can see what you need that you don’t have on hand), food is not an issue and you can avoid overtime cost by holding training as part of a daily work time.
With the low hanging fruit of local training and stocking up on needed supplies getting you the bigger return on investment should be enough to over come the political desire for photo ops.
As always, I only have book experience and would love to know how it works in the real world.
