Join George Whitney each week as he speaks with people&nbsp;making a difference in emergency management. They talk about what works, what doesn&#39;t, how to work efficiently, and how to get it done with maximum effect.</p> &nbsp;</p> &nbsp;</p> <cite>Special thanks to <a href="http://ccmixter.org/files/stefsax/7785">stefsax</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/">CC BY 2.5</a> for our intro and outro music.</cite></p>
Public alert and warning has again become an area of priority for emergency managers. Getting advance notice of imminent danger and valuable instructions to the public when they need it most - before a disaster can do irreparable harm - is arguably one of the most important things an emergency manager can accomplish. In this episode, we speak with one of the people at FEMA charged with engineering adequate capability for local, state and federal government officials to do just that. Photo credit/FEMA
What does emergency messaging have to do with Y2K, social science, communications interoperability and a free market economy? In this second of two episodes with a pioneer in emergency messaging, we drive closer to defining the current problem with emergency messaging and some probable solutions.
In light of recent emergency messaging failures, it's time to ask...what's happening? Do local and state jurisdictions indeed have a duty to warn the public of emergency? If so, how are emergency managers impacted or otherwise bound to this duty? What can they do to make alert and warning more effective? In this and a subsequent episode, we explore these and other questions with a world-renowned expert in emergency messaging.
Many emergency managers agree programs need to invest more in public preparedness, but deciding how to make the best investments is tough. Designing a program that takes into account large, almost infinitely diverse populations seems impossible using a traditional approach. In this episode, we hear from an emergency manager and enthusiastic researcher who wants to change the way we engage the public to better prepare for disaster.