Crisis and Emergency Risk Communications:

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• Crisis and Emergency Risk Communications
• Addressing the challenges
• Stacey Thompson

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• CONTEXT
• Emergency Communications vs Emergency Information
  Management (beware of much communications and
  little information)
• Redundancy is the essence of EC, but along with
  that comes the need for a wide variety of
  protocols and skills for different Communications
  methods.
• Hi-tech communications equipment is of little
  use during crises without adequate preparatory
  legislation, management, protocols, training and
  qualified operators.
• Traditional communications methods are often
  ignored in favour of hi-technology, but they
  should not be considered mutually exclusive
  during emergencies.

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• AIM
• To outline some EC challenges experienced during
  crises and to underscore lessons learned

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• Challenge 1
• Plug in
• Turn on
• ?

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• Operations
• Routine Operations
• Crisis Operations
• Deployment of equipment
• Pre-positioning
• Post-Impact deployment
• Information Handling Protocols
• Message Formats/Forms
• Message Reporting Structure
• Routing Priorities

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• Operations
• Diagram, Frequency, Codes, Radios, ANTennaS
• Multi language warnings as most vulnerable
  (immigrants) often do not speak national
  broadcast language
• Warning systems for special needs groups
• Interoperability of equipment

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• EC Legislation
• Commandeer private facilities if needed
• Public warning responsibilities for private
  Telecoms licensing requirements
• Customs arrangements for Intl Assistance (Tampere
  Convention)
• Authority

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• EC Legislation
• Enforcement of Responsibilities
• Lack of legislation prevents adequate staffing
• Regulations and Procedures needed to
  operationalize legislation
• Telecommunications monopolies
• MOUs for use of private / NGO human and material
  resources during crises
• Needed to remove hurricane centered mindset

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• Organization, Leadership and Management
• Lead agency not accepting responsibility for EC
• No ownership of EC
• Lack of leadership
• Lack of training of lead agency in DRM causes
  confidence gaps hence low priority given to EC

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• Organization, Leadership and Management
• Existence of EOC/ECC
• Radio Room
• Communications Area
• Computer Room
• Needed to confirm, coordinate, monitor and manage
  Information from many different sources

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• Organization, Leadership and Management
• Communications with and between
• NEOC
• Disaster Site
• CEOC
• Shelter
• International donor
• Victim
• Agencies HQs

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• Staff
• Full Time Person(s) needed for EC Management
• Career path needed for motivation
• Qualified
• Experienced

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• Staffing
• Crisis Operators
• Identified beforehand instead of random details
• Very familiar with equipment
• Very familiar with computer software
• Properly briefed on equipment
• Operators understand battery technology
• Operator knowledge of voice/radio procedures

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• Plans and Planning
• Communications SOPs
• Easily Understandable Communications Diagrams

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• Training
• EC Theory
• Practical Hands on with equipment
• Drills
• Exercises

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• Choice of Technologies
• Blackberry and other technologies have merged and
  personalized communications and Information
  Management
• Sometimes causes misguided belief that one person
  can run EC from a PDA
• Appropriateness for situation
• Use of digital (data) communications instead of
  analogue (voice) communications

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• Equipment
• Land Line
• Downed lines make unreliable comms during storm
  emergencies
• Radios
• Adequate number of Radios ?
• Adequacy for Task/Fitness for Role ?
• Radios Working when Deployed?
• Radios Tested Before Deployment?
• Frequency/channel assignments correct?
• Redundancy issues

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• Redundancy issues
• Trunking
• Vulnerable to maintenance and upgrading problems
  and control issues
• Use of HF
• Abandoned by some countries for sat phones
• Needs much training and expertise to operate and
  maintain
• Strategic alliances for trained operators at
  strategic locations
• Strategic alliances for maintenance pers at
  strategic locations
• Dysfunctional HAM clubs - skills being lost

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• Cell Phones
• Over-reliance on this comms
• Often unreliable
• Commerce driven
• Vulnerable to wind damage
• Voice and SMS Jamming
• Pre-Arranged Priority Calls
• Cell Alert Technology for Call Out
• Expensive to operate

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• Satphones
• Activated before deployment?
• Choice of Hand Held or Outside Antenna?
• Useable inside building (EOC/Shelters) with
  outside antenna
• Tendency to use like cell phones
• Attempts to call incorrect satphone numbers
• Incorrect dialing procedures/codes/prefixes
• Operators only see this equipment during
  emergency response and do not know how to use
  them
• Expensive to operate hence limited application

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• 911
• Police operators tend to focus response on crime
  calls
• Best practice - Better operated by civilians
• Can automate with reverse 911

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• Cell Alert
• Who pays for this? Cell providers ?
• Great for Geographic based warning system

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• SMS
• Jams network when many numbers used
  simultaneously
• Providers can prioritize for EC only

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• Cable TV
• Antennae and cable affected by hurricanes
• Good for other emergencies

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• E-mail
• Blackberry a good addition to EC arsenal
• Great for data comms, documentation, transmitting
  large amounts of information, tables, lists, etc
• Power sources

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• EM software for EM system
• Location and administration of server contentious
• Security concerns by some countries

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• Megaphones
• Sirens
• Runner
• Flags
• Whistles
• Drums
• Light signals
• Morse code

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• Computers
• Power sources
• Operator skills
• Portability
• Loss of data
• Backup
• Use of wireless networks
• Operator knowledge
• Adequacy for task
• Networked?
• Appropriate Software
• Memory
• Hard disk
• Speed
• Portable (Laptop) or Fixed (Desktop)

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• Batteries
• Sufficient batteries per radio for extended
  operations ?
• Batteries charged before deployment ?
• Will batteries maintain charge for reasonable
  period of time ? (one day)

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• Maintenance Programme
• Serviceability Rate
• Plan for Base Maintenance ?
• Plan for Field/First Line Maintenance ?
• Plan for Routine Maintenance ?
• Care and maintenance of Equipment
• Radios Well Maintained ?
• Daily Risk Reduction Measures
• Location of ECC
• Disassembly of vulnerable outside equipment
  before hurricane blow
• Protection from power surges/Lightening/Etc

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• Back Up Power
• Generators
• Adequate number of generators for EOCs, shelters
  etc
• Size of generators
• Fuel for Generators
• Adequate and safe fuel storage for generators
• Procedures for refilling generators
• UPS
• Inverters
• Solar Chargers

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• Public Information and Education
• Public not aware of protocols

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• THANK YOU
• Questions ???