Communicating
Emergency
Preparedness
Strategies for Creating a
Disaster Resilient Public
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coppola, Damon P.
Communicating emergency preparedness : strategies for creating a disaster resilient
public / Damon Coppola, Erin K. Maloney.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4200-6510-7 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. Emergency management. 2. Risk communication. I. Maloney, Erin K. II. Title.
HV551.2.C635 2009
363.34’7--dc22
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Auerbach Web site at
http://www.auerbach-publications.com
© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
2009014256
DEDICATION
The authors dedicate this book to Eileen and Paul Coppola, and Nancy
and Tim Maloney, from whom countless risk lessons have come.
© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
About the Authors
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1 Public Disaster Preparedness: In Theory and in Practice
Introduction
Communication Science: A Primer
Social Marketing
The Public Disaster Preparedness Process: A Systems Approach
Phase 1: Early Planning
Phase 2: Developing a Campaign Strategy
Phase 3: Implementing and Evaluating the Campaign
Purpose, Goals, and Objectives
Goal 1: Raising Public Awareness of the Hazard Risk
Goal 2: Guiding Public Behavior
Goal 3: Warning the Public
Other Risk Communication Goals
Priorities and Goals of Risk Communication Recipients
Seeing the Bigger Picture: Communication as One Component of a Larger
Solution
Requirements of a Public Education Campaign
The Dangers of Failed Risk Communication
Conclusion
References
2 Managing Risk, Emergencies, and Disasters
Introduction
Fundamental Emergency Management Concepts
Risk
Hazard
Vulnerability
Disaster
Safe
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CONTENTS
The Management of Risk
The Management of Emergencies and Disasters: Emergency Management
Functions
Mitigation
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
The Management of Emergencies and Disasters: Emergency Management
Structures
The Fire Department
Law Enforcement
Emergency Management
Emergency Medical Services
The Military
Other Emergency Management Resources
Governmental Preparedness Actions
Individual and Business Preparedness
Jurisdictional Management and Control: Defining Responsibility
What Is Public Emergency Preparedness?
The Advantages of a Trained Public
Conclusion
References
3 The Campaign — Step 1: Early Planning
Introduction
Define the Problem
Identify and Analyze the Hazard Risk
Define the Target Population
Identify Appropriate Solutions
Market Research
Existing Program Research and Gap Analysis
Determine Project Feasibility
Establish Realistic Goals and Objectives
Form the Planning Team and Coalition
Encouraging Partners to Join the Planning Team
The Media as a Partner
Drawing Up Partnership Plans
Project Management
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Conclusion
References
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4 Step 2: Develop a Campaign Strategy
Introduction
Project Kickoff
The Campaign Strategy
Influential External Variables
Selecting Appropriate Settings, Channels, and Methods
Settings
Channels
Methods
Selecting Communication Channels and Methods
Selecting Communicators
Design and Develop Message Content
The Extended Parallel Process Model
Creating Targeted Materials
Social Norms
Design Materials
Activities and Events Planning
Establishing a Project Timetable
Creating the Comprehensive Communication Plan
Pilot Testing and Adjusting Campaign Materials
Conclusion
References
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5 Campaign Implementation and Evaluation
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Introduction
Campaign Launch
The Media
Evaluation
Objectivity in Evaluation
The Justification for Evaluation
Process Evaluation
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Design
True Experimental Designs
Conclusion
References
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© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
CONTENTS
6 Program Support
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Introduction
Types of Program Support
Sources of Support
Individual Donors
Concluding Remarks about Individual Donors
Business and Corporate Donors
Small Businesses
Foundations
Community Foundations
Public Foundations
Family Foundations
Private Foundations
Finding Appropriate Foundations
Local, State, County, and Federal Government Grants
Local Government
State and County Governments
The Federal Government
Religious Organizations
Civic Organizations and Service Clubs
Fee Generation
Partnerships
Implementing a Fundraising Strategy
Fundraising Strategy Factors
Asking for Stuff
Conclusion
References
7 Emergency Management Public Education Case Studies
Case: Multi-Cultural Disaster Preparedness Campaign
Case: Multi-Cultural Disaster Preparedness Campaign
Case: Preparing Children for Emergencies
Case: Organized Training for Communities
Case: Children’s “Edutainment” Program
Case: Disaster Preparedness at Religious Institutions
Case: Earthquake Readiness Taught to a Population That Speaks English
as a Second Language
Case: Citywide Preparedness Effort
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CONTENTS
Case: Volunteer Emergency Preparedness Program
Case: Teaching Emergency Preparedness in Schools
Case: Emergency Preparedness in Public Transportation
Case: FEMA Prepares Children for Disasters
Case: Disaster Preparedness in Schools
Case: Emergency Preparedness in Neighborhoods
Case: Public Private Partnership for Disaster Preparedness
Case: National Public Education Effort
Appendix: Web Sites and Downloadable Guides Found on the Internet
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Damon Coppola would like to express his profound gratitude to his wife,
Mary Gardner Coppola, for her guidance and patience; to Jane Bullock
and George Haddow for their friendship and support and for continuing
to give freely of their expertise and experience; to Eileen Coppola for her
sage editing assistance; and to Jack Harrald, Greg Shaw, J. René van Dorp,
and Ollie Davidson for their insight.
Erin Maloney would like to thank her former advisors Dr. Dana
Mastro and Dr. Leslie Snyder for inspiring her to go into the field; her current doctoral advisor, Dr. Maria Lapinski, for her guidance and support;
and Kyle for teaching her the value of home-roasted coffee.
The authors would also like to thank Mark Listewnik, Jessica Vakili,
and Andrea Demby at Taylor & Francis for the assistance they provided in
the development of this book.
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© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
INTRODUCTION
The first eight years of the 21st century were punctuated by a diverse series
of mega-disasters, most notably the earthquakes in Gujarat, India, and
Kashmir, Pakistan, the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States,
the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Cyclone Nargis in Burma,
and the Sichuan earthquake in China. After-action reporting following
these events denoted that only a very small percentage of the affected
populations had acted to reduce their vulnerability prior to each disaster’s
occurrence. In many of these cases and others like them, national and
international governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
alike expended tremendous human and financial resources in an effort
to promote public disaster preparedness. Clearly, most of these efforts fell
far short of their expected outcomes.
Coupled with the recognition that natural and technological disasters are increasing both in number and severity, such poor communitywide public disaster preparedness figures obligate the adaptation of a
more effective practice. Individual and family preparedness are vital to
increasing overall community resilience, especially in light of the limitations typically experienced by the emergency services in the outset of
large-scale events. Even in countries whose governments boast the most
highly advanced emergency management capacities, leaders have found
it necessary to warn average citizens that a minimum of 48 to 72 hours of
self-reliance in the aftermath of a major disaster should be anticipated.
Individual emergency preparedness is by no means a new concept;
however, the recognition of its true lifesaving potential has elevated its
prominence among professionals in the field of emergency management.
In response to a recent Council for Excellence in Government study, which
reported that “most Americans haven’t taken steps to prepare for a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other emergency” (USA Today, 12/18/2006),
former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
echoed an even wider societal recognition of the dire need for increased
public disaster preparedness efforts in stating that, “Everybody should
have [disaster preparedness] basics down. I think Katrina shook people
up. A lot of messaging and a lot of education, particularly at the local level,
is the key” (Government Executive, 12/20/2006). Furthermore, the University
of Colorado Natural Hazards Center, a leader in the advancement of
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© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
INTRODUCTION
emergency management throughout the world, stated in its January 2007
Natural Hazards Observer that: (1) there is a positive correlation between
public awareness and positive disaster outcomes; (2) opportunities exist to
better educate the public, coordinate messages, and initiate social change;
(3) recent studies and surveys all indicate that there is an immediate need
for better public education before disaster; and most importantly (4) there
exists no comprehensive review of practices and resources and identification of components that make up an effective disaster public education
program (Natural Hazards Observer, January 2007).
Perhaps most significantly, a June 2007 report released by the Emergency Preparedness Institute states, “The current approach to encouraging preparedness is ineffective, and a new method of communicating the
importance of developing business and personal preparedness plans is
needed.” While other industries, most notably the public health sector,
have enjoyed great success in shaping public attitudes and actions about
their risk reduction behavior, the emergency management sector has thus
far been largely unsuccessful in its endeavors. Despite the high cost and
high profile of the penultimate preparedness effort, the Department of
Homeland Security Ready.gov preparedness campaign has failed to make
use of strongly supported public education methodologies that would have
most certainly improved outcomes (Washington Post, 8/10/2006). Clearly,
the most formidable obstacle to those preaching disaster preparedness is
an industry-wide lack of knowledge about how people learn new behaviors, what influences them to act upon this knowledge, and the best way
to create messages catering to those individual factors.
All communities are vulnerable to the effects of natural, technological, and intentional hazards. Every day, in every community, these hazard
risks result in emergency events of varying size and intensity. Occasionally,
they are of such great magnitude that they result in a major disaster. To
minimize the consequences posed by known and unknown hazards, or to
limit their likelihood of occurrence, communities perform mitigation and
preparedness actions and activities. Individual members of the public,
together representing the largest and most important community stakeholder, may be equipped with the skills and knowledge to further reduce
their own, their family’s, and their community’s vulnerability if given the
right kind of training using appropriate communication channels. This
public, once prepared, becomes an integral part of the community’s emergency management capacity. Properly trained individuals not only influence their own and their family’s disaster risk, they also use the skills they
have learned to rescue their neighbors, relieve shelter staff, retrofit homes
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© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
INTRODUCTION
for earthquakes, and to take countless more actions to extend the reach of
their local emergency services.
As is true with the emergency manager and first responders in a community, members of the general public need information and training if
they are to know what is best to do before, during, and after emergencies
occur. The information provided must reflect their true risk and must be
tailored to their needs, preferences, and abilities; transmitted in a way
they can receive and understand; and tested for effectiveness. Any education provided will be received in conjunction or in competition with
a wide range of other sources and messages relating to hazards, each
considered “risk communication” regardless of its influence. In addition, while some of this coincident information will be accurate, effective,
and useful, much of it is misleading, inaccurate, and ultimately harmful. Individuals are left to their own devices to cull through the daily
onslaught of information received for that which will help them and their
families prepare.
Creating risk messages and conveying them to the public require a
dedication of time, planning, and learning. Unfortunately, informing the
public about disaster preparedness is not as easy as simply telling them
what they should do. The practice of disaster preparedness public education, which includes public awareness, education, and outreach, is an
involved one relying on many years of practice and many different disciplines (including psychology, sociology, graphic design, marketing,
communication, emergency management, and many others). Risk communication efforts are ongoing, long-term in nature, and must adhere to strategic plans to be effective. They should be coordinated with other providers
in the community, and are most successful when they involve partners
drawn from throughout the community and even beyond its borders.
This resource has been developed to provide practitioners in the
United States and throughout the world, at both the local and national
levels, with the background and the tools they need to plan, design, and
carry out their public disaster preparedness efforts. The book is intended
as an academic resource as well as a practical how-to guide.
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© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Damon P. Coppola is the author of several leading emergency management academic and professional texts, including Introduction to Emergency Management, Introduction to Homeland Security, and Introduction to
International Emergency Management. Mr. Coppola is also the co-author of
several FEMA Emergency Management Institute publications, including
Hazards Risk Management, Emergency Management Case Studies, Comparative
Emergency Management, and NIMS and Incident Management Systems. As an
independent consultant in the emergency management sector, Mr. Coppola
has provided planning and technical assistance to emergency management organizations at the local, state, national, and international levels,
and in both the nonprofit and private sectors. Mr. Coppola’s clients have
included FEMA, The World Bank, Save the Children, The Humane Society,
ACORN, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Corporation for National
and Community Service, Marriott International, and more. Mr. Coppola
received his masters in Engineering Management (MEM) in crisis, disaster, and risk management from the George Washington University.
Erin K. Maloney holds a masters in communication from the University
of Connecticut at Storrs, and is working toward her doctorate of philosophy in communication with a specialization in environmental science and
policy at Michigan State University. Ms. Maloney’s practical experience and
research focus primarily on health communication, media, and research
methods. Her research generally has implications for communication campaign message design and public processing of messages. Ms. Maloney
consults on grassroots communication projects, most recently on a campaign that succeeded in passing a millage to preserve farmland and open
space in the State of Michigan. Ms. Maloney is also an instructor and a
research assistant in the department of communication at Michigan State
University.
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1
Public Disaster Preparedness
In Theory and in Practice
INTRODUCTION
Risk-related public education permeates all facets of modern life. Automobiles chime to remind us we must “Click It or Ticket;” cigarette packaging
warns in no uncertain terms of the cancer risk contained within; Styrofoam coffee cup lids proclaim the obvious heat contained within; and
medicine bottles are accompanied by pages of warnings and dangers to
match a sentence or two of intended benefits. The flood of risk information
we receive can be so great, in fact, that we simply stop paying attention to
most of it (Figure 1.1).
Every moment of our lives entails risk. Moreover, for every hazard
that threatens us there exist actions we may take by which our risk is
increased or decreased. For many hazards, common sense would seem
to dictate what constituted the wisest risk reduction measures: holding a
handrail while descending a staircase; wearing a seatbelt while driving
or riding in an automobile; avoiding cigarette smoke or quitting smoking.
Unfortunately, such sensible advice is not always followed. Each year, in
the United States alone, more than 1,600 people die by falling down the
stairs; more than 23,000 perish in motor vehicle accidents while neglecting
to wear a seatbelt (approximately 55% of all daytime and 66% of nighttime accident deaths); and approximately 440,000 people succumb to
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COMMUNICATING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
FIGURE 1.1 Click It or Ticket Campaign — This image was developed by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for use by the media. (Source:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/buckleup/ciot-planner/planner07/index.htm)
smoking-related illnesses (National Safety Council [NSC], 2007; National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2007; Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2003). Experience has demonstrated that, as a species, humans are not risk-averse and they often do
not prepare for or even fear the right things. However, practice has also
shown that risk-related misperceptions, miscalculations, and misguided
behaviors can and have been corrected through the application of effective risk communication.
The majority of the risk-related public education we receive is generated by the public health sector. In fact, the most common avoidable
or reducible risks we face as individuals fall under the domain of public health. For decades, public health professionals have studied the most
common causes of death, discovered appropriate methods for reducing
them, and developed effective messages and communication strategies to
educate the public with this knowledge. These practitioners have steadily
improved upon their public education methodologies, and their success
rates in reducing population-wide risk have risen. Through public health
education, people are living healthier, more productive, and longer lives.
Public health risks, however, form only one of many risk types we
face. In fact, there are a great many larger-scale hazard risks that fall
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PUBLIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
within the realm of an entirely different group of professionals: the emergency management community. Emergency managers and the various
emergency services have been tasked with the heavy burden of preparing
for, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from a full and growing
list of natural, technological, and intentional hazards that each year affect
millions of people worldwide and destroy billions of dollars in property,
infrastructure, and personal and national wealth.
Emergency managers, like their counterparts in the public health sector, are acutely concerned with public risk. However, rather than addressing commonly occurring hazards that affect individual citizens on a more
personal level — like heart disease and HIV infection — their foci have
been those disaster-causing hazards that strike entire communities, cities,
states, and even whole nations. In addition, unlike the public health sector, emergency management as a recognized profession is relatively new.
Few emergency managers have the communication training of public
health professionals. Fewer still have the practical experience required to
develop and run a public education campaign. Moreover, almost no offices
of emergency management have enjoyed means with which to adequately
fund or even gauge the effectiveness of the campaigns they run.
The emergency management community is not entirely new to the
public education arena. Its practitioners have long recognized the benefits
of public education in terms of its ability to reduce population-wide
risk from major hazards. Almost every American over the age of 40, for
instance, possesses an instinctive understanding of the phrase “Duck and
cover!” An even greater range of people understands what is meant by
the command “Stop, drop, and roll.” These phrases, developed to address
the risk of an air raid in the first case and one’s clothes catching fire in the
second, are the products of two very widespread and successful emergency management public education campaigns institutionalized into the
American school system (Figure 1.2).
Unfortunately, most emergency management public education efforts
do not enjoy the widespread success that these two examples have. In fact,
studies have shown that the vast majority of people do little or nothing
to prepare for disasters and hazards, despite an increasing onslaught of
information from local, state, and federal government agencies, the nonprofit sector, and elsewhere. The 21st century has thus far proven to be
one marked by frequent and catastrophic hazards in the United States,
including terrorist attacks, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. Despite
extensive media coverage of these events, and what may be one of the
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COMMUNICATING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
FIGURE 1.2 Civil defense era poster, Pennsylvania. (Source: Library of Congress,
2000.)
most widely touted emergency management public education efforts in
decades (the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov Website and
related Disaster Preparedness Month), recent research indicates that most
individuals and families are still woefully unprepared for the risks they
know to be affecting them (Council for Excellence in Government, 2007).
The poor success rates of the wider emergency management community are frustrating, but they in no way suggest that the goal of a “culture of disaster preparedness” is unattainable. Organizations like the
American Red Cross, in fact, have illustrated through their CPR and first
aid training programs that ordinary citizens can and are willing to learn
how to help themselves and others in emergencies. The knowledge and
experience of this organization that are attributable to its success are not
widely enjoyed in the greater emergency management community. The
public education work of the Red Cross has bridged the gap between
public health and emergency management, and their practitioners have
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PUBLIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
successfully incorporated the communication sector’s lessons-learned
into their public disaster preparedness education efforts.
Risk communication in practice is difficult at best, requiring a detailed
understanding of the population targeted, the methods (channels) most
suitable for reaching them, and the types of messages most likely to be
received and acted upon. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all risk
communication message, and any attempt to do such is doomed to fail.
By learning and applying the effective practices developed over many
decades by the public health community and others, emergency managers could enjoy similar levels of success.
This chapter introduces public disaster preparedness education and
the concepts that guide its successful practice. To begin, a short overview
of the experience gleaned in the public health sector, where risk communication efforts have advanced most significantly, is provided. This will
help to familiarize readers with the relevant terms and concepts used by
risk communication professionals, and the principles and theories that
drive public education and preparedness behavior. Finally, the foundational elements of public education — its goals, limitations, and requirements — are presented and explained.
COMMUNICATION SCIENCE: A PRIMER
Communication science is a field of practice and research that has great
potential to advance the efforts of emergency preparedness practitioners.
This field is predicated on the fact that the mechanism by which information is conveyed to an individual or group plays an imminent role in the
impact the message has on the intended message recipient. Many decades
of research by this sector’s experts have led to the discovery of six stages
through which individuals process information, namely (McGuire, 1968):
1. Exposure to the message
2. Attention to the message
3. Comprehension of the arguments and conclusions presented in
the message
4. Yielding to the message
5. Accepting the message
6. Information integration (which allows for message retention)
Thus, once individuals pay attention to and understand a message
to which they have been exposed, they will use past experience with the
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COMMUNICATING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
issue to evaluate the new information. If after being compared to the old
information the new information is accepted, it is integrated into one’s
knowledge structure. This integration is said to produce a change in one’s
belief system, leading individuals to change their attitude toward the
topic. Attitudes are composed of three components: (1) cognitive (one’s
opinions or beliefs about the issue), (2) affective (one’s feelings about the
issue), and (3) behavioral (one’s behaviors related to the issue). Because
these components are so closely intertwined, influencing the cognitive
and affective elements of an attitude may bring about behavior change.
The act of changing a person’s attitude on an issue for the purpose of
creating, reinforcing, or changing responses is called persuasion. Much
of communication science and research seeks to uncover different techniques that can be used while delivering a message in order to make it
more persuasive.
One of the most important factors practitioners should consider when
attempting to construct messages to persuade an audience about an issue
is the degree to which the members of the audience are involved with the
topic being discussed. Involvement in this realm is defined as how much
people feel that decisions about the issue will have direct implications
for their lives and the things that are important to them; it is how much
they care about decisions surrounding the issue. For example, some areas
of the medical sector that may be considered high involvement issues
are the legality of abortion and whether health insurance will cover the
cost of prescribed medications. Some issues that might be considered low
involvement issues are the importance of washing one’s hands properly in
order to prevent the spread of disease or whether health insurance covers
the cost of a medication that you do not use.
Those who are highly involved with the topic are thought to scrutinize
the message itself very carefully, so the degree to which they are persuaded
by the message is based mostly on the strength of the argument presented.
Therefore, for example, an individual with a great interest in emergency
preparedness who is seeking information specifically on that topic will
be likely to pay close attention to information presented in preparedness
promotions. He or she will be likely to grasp upon inconsistencies and will
question any counter-intuitive facts that are presented. If campaign planners are targeting an audience of highly involved people, it will be crucial
for them to present logical, sound arguments. Also, if the communicator knows beforehand that the highly involved audience already holds an
unfavorable attitude toward the behavior being presented, then he or she
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PUBLIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
should be especially careful not to present any extreme viewpoints that
counter the beliefs of the audience. For example, if a school board were
already against the implementation of an emergency preparedness course
into their students’ regular curriculum because they think it would take
away from other studies, it is better to acknowledge their viewpoint and
work to find a compromise than to insist that there is no other option than
the one being presented. Taking an extreme viewpoint that is counterattitudinal to the audience has been shown to backfire in that the audience
ends up spending the entire time counter-arguing (i.e., criticizing every
point you make, finding something wrong with each of your points in
their own minds, and ending up with a more extreme viewpoint against
your message).
People who are uninvolved with the topic being promoted have been
shown to pay less attention to the message itself. They will not likely be
able to pick out inconsistencies in the message or counter-intuitive claims
and instead will be influenced by features of the message (such as perceptions of source credibility, message length, and the sheer number of arguments in favor of the issues presented within the message). Therefore, a
person who is not highly involved with the issue of emergency preparedness and is not seeking information about the topic is likely to be more
influenced by a promotion that contains a list of semi-compelling reasons
to engage in the behavior being promoted than a promotion that offers a
single highly logical and rational reason.
Campaign designers seeking to promote emergency preparedness
initiatives are very likely to find themselves dealing with audiences who
are uninvolved with the issue. This can be positive in that they will not
have strong attitudes that run counter to the promoted behavior, because
they do not care as much about the issue. This can also be a drawback,
however, in that no matter how logical and sensible it may be for people
to engage in the behavior the communicator is promoting, it will likely
take more than just a rational argument to get them to assume the inconvenience of a new behavior. Chapter 4 of this book discusses a number
of different appeals and communication theories that have been successful in the past in persuading audiences and motivating behavior change.
These appeals will be especially important for target audiences that are
not involved with the topic of emergency preparedness. See Sidebar 1.1
for more information about the potential and limitations of communication campaigns.
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COMMUNICATING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Sidebar 1.1: The Potential and Limitations
of Communication Campaigns
Communication campaigns are organized efforts that use communication to bring about a specified goal of informing, reinforcing, or persuading a defined group of people. While communication campaigns
can be a very powerful tool of social influence, it is important to distinguish among the things that communication can and cannot do. In
order to clarify these capabilities, the National Cancer Institute has
offered the following (http://www.cancer.gov/pinkbook/page3):
Communication alone can:
r Increase the intended audience’s knowledge and awareness of
an issue, problem, or solution
r Influence perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes that may change
social norms
r Prompt action
r Demonstrate or illustrate skills
r Reinforce knowledge, attitudes, or behavior
r Show the benefit of behavior change
r Advocate a position on an issue or policy
r Increase demand or support for social services
r Refute myths and misconceptions
r Strengthen organizational relationships
Communication combined with other strategies can:
r Cause sustained change in which an individual adopts and
maintains a new behavior or an organization adopts and maintains a new policy direction
r Overcome barriers/systemic problems, such as insufficient
access to healthcare
Communication cannot:
r Compensate for inadequate opportunities or services
r Produce sustained change in complex behaviors without the
support of a larger program for change, including components
addressing services, technology, and changes in regulations
and policy
r Be equally effective in addressing all issues or relaying all
messages because the topic or suggested behavior change
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may be complex, because the intended audience may have
preconceptions about the topic or message sender, or because
the topic may be controversial
In addition to these limitations, it is crucial that practitioners recognize that successful communication campaigns are highly audience
centered, emphasizing costs and benefits that are likely to produce an
effect. Because of this, they generally focus on highly specified target
audiences. In addition to narrowing the intended target audience, it
is also important to remember that behavior change is quite an ambitious goal. It is not realistic to expect that people will change lifelong
habits drastically as the result of even the most persuasive campaign.
In other words, communication campaigns are effective when they
attempt to persuade a specific group of people to change a very specific attitude or behavior; a single campaign cannot target “everyone”
to do “everything” that needs to be done to solve a problem.
SOCIAL MARKETING
While theory is an essential component in developing messages that are
most likely to inspire changes in behavior, the content of the message is
only part of the persuasion process. Obviously, even perfectly constructed
messages will have no impact if the intended audience is not exposed to
them. As this text will demonstrate, message designers must have significant insight into the beliefs, attitudes, values, and current behaviors of
their intended audience. Before messages are designed, practitioners must
spend some time researching and gaining in-depth knowledge about the
audience whose behavior they are trying to change.
Perhaps the most easily recognizable demonstration of the power of
persuasion is the marketing of commercial products. Private companies
spend millions of dollars on marketing each year and are generally confident that the capital dedicated to marketing will elicit a many-fold return
in profit. In the past three decades, a number of nonprofit and pro-social
sectors have begun to use marketing tools and techniques to circulate
social change strategies more effectively. These strategies have guided
the design and implementation of campaigns and interventions of successful governmental agencies and organizations such as the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Coast Guard, and the
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National Traffic Safety Administration (NTSA), as well as nonprofit organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the American Red Cross,
the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and the
American Diabetes Association.
Social marketing campaigns employ the elements of the “marketing
mix” used by traditional marketing firms. The traditional “four p’s of marketing” include:
1. Product: In social marketing, the “product” is directly related
to the end goal of the marketing campaign. The product may be
a tangible good (e.g., hurricane straps), a behavior (e.g., clearing
wildfire fuel, stockpiling food and water), a service (e.g., a home
safety inspection), or an idea (e.g., family preparedness).
2. Price: The price refers to any cost (money, time, energy, embarrassment, etc.) associated with the product being promoted. It
is essential to a marketing campaign to establish the perception
among members of the target audience that the benefits of the
product outweigh the costs associated with it.
3. Place: There are a number of different “places” that need to be
considered in the design of a social marketing campaign. First, it
must be determined where people may go to consume the product being promoted (e.g., where smoke detectors will be distributed, where response training may be offered, etc.). Practitioners
also must decide upon placement of promotions in order to
maximize exposure among the target population. This requires
that promoters become familiar with the demographic being targeted, common media used among the group, and the ways in
which members of this population obtain trusted information.
4. Promotion: Perhaps even more dependent upon practitioners’
understanding of the target audience’s beliefs, attitudes, and
behaviors is the promotion itself. The promotion stage is the
effort to communicate the message to the target audience. This
stage takes the three previous “p’s” into account in order to reach
the target audience effectively with a message that promotes a
clear product, emphasizing the benefits over the barriers of adhering to suggestions made by the message source.
In her widely employed book Hands-On Social Marketing: A Step-byStep Guide, Nedra Kline Weinreich notes four supplementary “p’s” of
social marketing to be considered in addition to those used in the traditional marketing sector:
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PUBLIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
5. Publics: Weinreich draws a distinction between “external publics,” which often include primary audiences (those most in need
of influence) and secondary audiences (those who can be persuaded to contribute to influencing the primary audience), policymakers, gatekeepers, and “internal publics,” composed of those
who are involved with program implementation. Both are crucial
to successful campaigns.
5. Partnerships: Issues being promoted by social marketing are
often highly complex. Successful campaigns often involve multiple organizations playing different roles in the multifaceted goals
of the campaign effort.
7. Policy: Sometimes the most realistic method of bringing about
sustained behavior change is to implement policy change. Social
marketing campaigns can aid in generating the support needed
for such changes.
8. Purse Strings: Social marketing programs are often funded
by grants and donations from foundations or the government.
Practitioners should consider all funding possibilities before planning their social marketing efforts in order to keep their program
plans within a realistic budget.
In a review of social marketing in public health, Walsh, Rudd,
Moeykens, and Moloney (1993) noted that while the social marketing process differs from place to place, virtually all share in common that they are:
1. Disciplined in setting objectives and using a variety of techniques
to achieve them
2. Centered around a target audience
3. Continuously refined throughout the campaign to meet the needs
and desires of the intended audience
As these commonalities suggest, the necessity of constant research
and adjustment according to the information and feedback provided by
the target audience does not allow for a single sequential formula that all
campaigns may follow to conduct an effective campaign.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH, and
the National Cancer Institute have developed and refined a social marketing strategy known as the Health Communication Program Cycle. This
tried and tested process has come to be known as a standard in the field
of risk communication because of its comprehensive approach, elements
of which have been highly effective in promoting preventive and reactive
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COMMUNICATING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
public health behaviors. Many of the elements developed for this process,
and many of the associated actions, are easily transferable to the field of
emergency management. The Health Communication Program Cycle
divides the public health campaign process into four distinct stages:
Stage 1 involves planning and strategy development. It is essential
that practitioners “do their homework” during this stage in order
to better understand the problem and the role that communication
can play in moving toward a solution. As noted earlier, there are
no one-size-fits-all communication campaigns that inspire everybody to do everything. Therefore, while conducting this initial
research, communicators are best served by identifying segments
of the population who are in greatest need of an intervention.
Based on this research, the communication team must then set
realistic and measurable objectives involving a specific target
audience, which are to be assessed at a given date. The research
team must set goals that can be measured objectively throughout
and at the end of the campaign to track progress and assess the
effectiveness of the campaign.
Stage 2 involves developing and pre-testing concepts, messages, and
materials for the campaign. During this stage, practitioners apply
the insight gained from their problem (e.g., hazard risk vulnerability) and audience research previously conducted in order to create
initial campaign messages and materials. A number of campaign
messages and materials may be developed and pre-tested with
focus groups, interviews, or surveys to get feedback from members of the intended audience. Pre-testing is used to eliminate all
options except those that are best received by the audience they
are intended to influence.
Stage 3 is the actual implementation of the program. In addition to
reaching out to the target audience, communicators will track
exposure and reactions to the campaign. These organized evaluations help to ensure that all materials are being distributed properly and to highlight aspects of the campaign that may need to be
adjusted on an ongoing basis.
Stage 4 involves assessing the effectiveness of the campaign upon
its completion and making refinements for possible future use.
During this stage, campaign success is assessed by measuring how
close communicators came to reaching each targeted goal. Many
social scientists argue that campaigns without assessments are not
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worth conducting, as there are many documented examples of
campaigns that produced either no effect or unintended negative
effects that made the problem even worse. Campaign evaluation is
discussed in greater depth in Chapter 5.
THE PUBLIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
PROCESS: A SYSTEMS APPROACH
The systems approach presented in this text is drawn from the successes
of the public health sector, where communication efforts have been conducted, studied, and improved upon for decades. This approach was
developed to help planners ensure that they consider every important factor, identify every likely obstacle, and capitalize on all available resources,
stakeholders, and partners who might support the effort. These methods
are scalable to accommodate the scope of any project size, and may be
used in whole or in part as the needs of the project dictate.
Public disaster preparedness education campaigns are complex
endeavors, regardless of their size or scope. While it may be possible to
hastily design, produce, and release individual risk information products
and messages, these poorly aimed “hip shots” rarely achieve any measurable change in public behavior in the absence of a greater strategy. If
what communicators seek is to facilitate actual improvements in community or population disaster resilience, they can only do so by ensuring
their efforts are not performed in an ad hoc, disorganized manner or that
they are not hastily planned without regard for each of the critical issues
involved. To do either would be at best a waste of time and money, and at
worst detrimental to the reputation of the organization and the safety of
the target population.
All forms of risk communication depend upon an intimate understanding of the problems being addressed, the individuals and groups
being communicated with, and the methods, partners, and resources
available. The single most effective way to ensure that these factors are
not only fully understood, but also appropriately utilized, is to follow a
step-by-step systems approach.
We separate public disaster preparedness education approach into
three separate components: (1) early planning, (2) developing a campaign
strategy, and (3) implementing and evaluating the campaign. The following (Figure 1.3) is a brief summary of our approach.
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FIGURE 1.3
Emergency management public education process diagram.
© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
STEP 3: CAMPAIGN
IMPLEMENTATION AND
EVALUATION
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Phase 1: Early Planning
All projects must be built upon a solid, stable foundation of comprehensive planning. In this initial stage, communicators explicitly define the
problem they are hoping to address, and perform an assessment to ensure
that their estimations and impressions are as accurate as possible. At
the same time, they define and analyze the target population, learning as
much they can about their risk perceptions, abilities, wants, cultures, and
other characteristics.
Once the problem has been defined and a target population has been
selected, it is possible to conduct a thorough assessment of population
risk. Based upon the outcome of that assessment, planners can begin to
establish the goals and objectives of their campaign. They can also begin
to form the larger planning team and communication coalition that will
carry out the planning, management, and operations of the full campaign
and that can identify, contact, and begin securing partners and stakeholders who will make the campaign possible through their assistance and
resources. Finally, they begin to identify the various obstacles they may
encounter in the course of their work, and predetermine ways in which to
overcome them should they arise.
Phase 2: Developing a Campaign Strategy
The second phase in the process entails the development of a campaign
strategy that guides actual operations after kickoff takes place, and the
development of the materials and methods that are used to communicate with the target population. Communicators perform market and data
research to determine what information already exists that either helps or
hinders efforts, and determines how messages can best be transmitted.
Using these data together with the analysis of the target population and
an assessment of available resources, the communicators select channels,
settings, and methods to execute their campaign. Message content and
materials are designed and developed, followed by pilot testing to ensure
the desired level of efficacy is attainable. Finally, activities and events are
planned and staff is trained, all in preparation for the campaign that is
about to begin.
Phase 3: Implementing and Evaluating the Campaign
It is in the third and final phase when communicators begin carrying
out the various operational elements of their campaign strategy with the
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target population. During this phase, communicators regularly measure
their levels of exposure and assess the success of their efforts. Using their
findings, they evaluate and adjust their methods and materials to keep
improving their ability to influence individual behavior. Communicators
also measure how close they came to meeting or exceeding their goals.
Using this information, they will be able to evaluate what actions and
methods they chose that worked, and what they did or encountered along
the way that hindered their progress. Project outcome evaluation is important for many reasons, as is described in Chapter 5.
PURPOSE, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES
All disaster preparedness public education efforts share a common purpose, namely to:
reduce individual vulnerability to one or more identified hazard risks as
much as possible among as many members of a defined target population as possible.
Vulnerability, as will be explained in detail in Chapter 2, is the propensity
to incur harm — in this case from the negative consequences of a disaster.
There are countless methods by which vulnerability may be reduced and,
likewise, resilience bolstered. However, the specific actions by which this
is actually achieved — and to what degree of success it is achieved — are
highly dependent on the ability of the preparedness campaign planning
team to correctly identify the problem (i.e., the reason that vulnerability is high), assess the targeted population, identify the most appropriate methods to address the problem, and select the best mechanisms to
communicate.
There are three primary goals of all public disaster preparedness
education campaigns. While the most comprehensive campaigns might
actually manage to accomplish all three of these goals, the majority often
address only the first two.
These overarching public disaster preparedness education goals
include:
1. Raising public awareness of the hazard risk(s)
2. Guiding public behavior, including:
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3. Warning the public
Goal 1: Raising Public Awareness of the Hazard Risk
The first goal of any public disaster preparedness education campaign
is to notify the public about their exposure to a hazard risk and to give
them an accurate impression of how that risk affects them personally.
Because most people already have a general awareness that a hazard risk
exists, this goal is most typically a simple matter of correcting inaccuracies and feelings of apathy toward preparedness for the particular hazard
or hazards of concern. Adjusting public sentiment of this kind, which is
most often the product of misguided assumptions regarding their need
or ability to affect their fate, is likewise accomplished by raising awareness about the particulars of the hazards and risks of concern. While the
occurrence of an actual disaster is the most likely and effective means by
which people become aware of a particular hazard risk, it is preferable
for obvious reasons that the public be enlightened long before a disaster
happens. Additionally, the mere experience of surviving a disaster has not
been shown to increase future preparedness behavior by any significant
degree if a public disaster preparedness education effort does not follow
the event (Citizen Corps, 2006).
The task of raising awareness involves much more than simply telling
citizens what causes a particular risk. They must also be informed of how
the risk affects them as individuals, what they are doing that places them
at risk, and where and when the hazard will likely strike. They must fully
understand the risk as it applies to them personally and to the population
as a whole in order to effectively absorb, process, and act upon all subsequent information they receive.
Raising public awareness is a difficult task because of the competition
communicators face for the attention of their audience. Communicators
must always be aware that members of their target population face
numerous risks on an individual level — many on a daily basis — that
take up much of their limited attention. People already have to worry about
their financial problems, crime, illness, problems at work and school, and
many other immediate issues, before they even think about what the communicators are about to tell them. Leading risk communications expert
M. Granger Morgan stated in a 2002 report on a study of how people receive
disaster preparedness information that “the time that most people can
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devote to rare or unusual risks is usually very limited” (Morgan, Fischhoff,
Bastrom, and Atman). In order to overcome these formidable social and
psychological obstacles, public education aimed at raising hazard risk
awareness must be as accurate, trustworthy, and effective as possible.
Goal 2: Guiding Public Behavior
Once an audience is informed sufficiently and appropriately about a hazard, they are primed to receive and process information that will help
them take appropriate action to reduce their vulnerability to one or more
hazard risks. This information will guide them in taking one or more of
the following categories of risk reduction action (each distinguished by
when the action is taken and for what greater purpose):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Pre-disaster risk reduction behavior
Pre-disaster preparedness behavior
Post-disaster response behavior
Post-disaster recovery behavior
Public education measures that address pre-disaster risk reduction
behavior seek to instruct a population that is already aware of the existence of a hazard risk about the range of available options that can help
reduce their individual and collective vulnerabilities to that risk. For
instance, people living in areas where earthquakes are a problem might
be shown how to secure their furniture to walls or floors to avoid the
injuries that result when such items are toppled. Once informed about
how their actions can affect their risk levels, people are more likely to act
in ways that improve their chances of avoiding disaster in the future.
Public education aimed at teaching pre-disaster preparedness behavior
attempts to inform the public about the kinds of actions they can take before
a disaster happens that, while not necessarily reducing the likelihood of an
event occurring, allow them to better manage the consequences they face.
Actions taught in this category could include the stockpiling of certain materials; the establishment of individual, family, and community action plans,
and the designation of appropriate and safe post-disaster meeting places.
Education in post-disaster response behavior seeks to teach an informed
public how to react in the midst of and the aftermath of a hazard event.
For instance, individuals must be instructed in how to recognize disaster
indicators and know what they should do in response to them, including
the proper way to participate in an evacuation. This category of public
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FIGURE 1.4 Phuket, Thailand. Tsunami evacuation sign installed in a coastal
tourist community hard-hit by the 2004 tsunami.
education also includes measures that empower the public to provide firstresponse services to their families, friends, neighbors, and themselves,
supplementing the community’s overextended emergency management
resources (Figure 1.4).
Finally, education focused on post-disaster recovery behavior, which
tends to be provided only in the aftermath of a disaster, teaches the disaster-affected members of the public how to best rebuild their lives. This
can include helping people locate government, nonprofit, or international
resources dedicated to relief and recovery, and learn how to provide those
services for themselves.
Goal 3: Warning the Public
The final goal of disaster management public education is warning.
Warnings are issued to alert an audience about a change in risk concerning an increased or certain likelihood of occurrence, and to provide them
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with authoritative instruction on appropriate actions they may take in
response. Warning messages differ from awareness messages in that they
instruct recipients to take immediate action. Like all risk communication
efforts, the messages and systems developed to transmit a warning must
be designed to reach the full range of possible recipients within the communities, regardless of location or time. Employing multiple systems, in
collaboration with a full range of public, private, and non-governmental
partners, increases the likelihood of a system reaching its target audience.
Examples of the various groups that must be considered in planning for
hazard warnings include individuals:
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
At home
In school
At work
In public spaces
In their cars
Who are disabled
Who speak different languages
Who are uneducated or have little education
Who are poor
Warnings must inform people of an impending hazard or disaster
and must instruct them on what to do before, during, and after the hazard
(see Sidebar 1.2). Warnings may include information on how citizens can
get more information, such as a Website, radio or TV station, or phone
number. Public warnings are more than just a message. Warnings are built
upon complex systems designed for the specifics of each hazard, population, and environment. Comprehensive warning systems seek to do most
or all of the following, in order:
1. Detect the presence of a hazard. This step involves collecting data
from a number of possible preestablished sensing and detection
systems, including weather sensors, water flow sensors, seismicity and ground deformation sensors, air and water monitoring
devices, and satellites, for example.
2. Assess the threat posed by that hazard. All hazards include some
variable component of risk likelihood, which changes through
time as more information becomes available. The data collected
from the sensing and detection systems allow disaster managers
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
to update their assessments of the hazard and then consider how
the community or country would be affected.
Determine the population facing risk from that hazard. The most effective warnings are those that target populations according to their
risk, thereby ensuring that those not at risk avoid taking unnecessary actions, which can get in the way of disaster managers.
Targeted warnings also allow responders to focus their assistance
on those people with the most pressing needs.
Inform the population. One of the most difficult decisions disaster
managers make is whether to issue a warning. Many are afraid
that the public will panic if they are told about a disaster or that
they will accuse the disaster manager of “crying wolf” if the
hazard does not materialize. However, researchers have found
both these outcomes to be rare in actual practice. Moreover, if the
disaster management agency has followed established guidelines
on risk assessment, their decision on issuing a warning can only
be regarded as responsible.
Determine appropriate protective actions that may be taken. Using
their updated assessment of the situation, disaster managers
must determine which protective actions the public should be
instructed to take. For some hazards, such as chemical releases,
the public may have been told about multiple, conflicting actions,
such as both evacuation and sheltering in place (remaining at
their indoor location while sealing off the outside environment as
much as possible).
Direct the public to take those actions. Through previous education
efforts, the public should already be aware of the hazard and
knowledgeable about the types of actions that may be required
during a warning. Disaster managers must decide on the best
course of action and relay that information to the public through
previously established mechanisms. A warned public will seek
information on what to do next, and it is important that a clear
message be given to guide them.
Support the actions being taken by the public. Actual response assets
(such as police and fire officials, emergency management officials, volunteers, and other established responders) should assist
the public in following any broadcasted instructions; for instance,
facilitating evacuation efforts.
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Warning systems are much more than the application of technology
and last-minute decisions. An effective warning system involves three
distinct processes that are crucial so the public will actually take appropriate action. The three processes are:
1. Planning. During this first phase, disaster managers must consider
what hazards allow for warnings, how and when the public will
be warned, what the public can do in response to those warnings,
what terminology will be used, and what authority and equipment are needed to issue the warnings.
2. Public education. The public will not automatically respond to a
siren, announcement, or other form of warning just because the
warning is given. Studies have shown that even with education
about warnings, as few as 40% of recipients will take appropriate action. Without previous instruction on what to do, it can be
assumed that even fewer would respond. A full explanation of
warnings has to be incorporated into regular public disaster education campaigns, including what they will sound like, what they
mean, where more information can be obtained, and the possible
actions that will be taken in response to them.
3. Testing and evaluation. Testing and evaluation are necessary to
ensure that recipients are not exposed to the warning process for
the first time during a disaster. Testing allows citizens to experience the warning in a low-stress environment and to hear the
actual sound or wording of a warning when they are neither
anxious nor scared. Testing also allows disaster managers to
ensure that their assumptions about the system and its processes
reflect what will actually take place during a real warning event.
Evaluation of the warning system helps to ensure in advance that
the system is as effective as it can be.
Sidebar 1.2: The Words of Warning
Many different words are used to describe the severity of a hazard warning. Confusion about these words may cause recipients to
respond with either too much or too little action. Therefore, clarity
and consistency are important. In general, the terminology used to
describe warnings includes:
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r Warning. The hazardous event is under way or is highly likely
to occur soon. Generally, an immediate threat to life and
property exists. The public should take immediate protective
action.
r Advisory. Advisories, like warnings, are given for events that
are currently occurring or are about to occur. Advisories apply
to events that are less severe than warnings in terms of the
expected consequences to life and property. However, action
to protect life and property are strongly recommended.
r Watch. Watches are issued when the likelihood of a hazardous event has increased significantly, but where and when
the event will occur is uncertain. Watches are issued so that
recipients may begin taking precautionary measures as far in
advance as possible, even though there is a significant chance
that the event may not materialize.
r Outlook. An outlook is a prediction of a hazardous event in the
near future, based upon conditions that are beginning to look
favorable for the onset of that event. Outlooks do not usually
include action information or recommendations to prepare for
the possible event.
r Statement. Statements are not warnings themselves, but are
used to provide detailed follow-up information to warnings,
advisories, or watches.
Other Risk Communication Goals
Like all other forms of public education, public disaster preparedness education seeks to accomplish several goals simultaneously, often in addition
to the three primary goals listed previously. Goals serve to help planners
focus their efforts and ultimately determine if their campaign was successful in achieving what it set out to do. Goals should be basic, should be
attainable, and should complement one another. They should also suit the
communication theory and practice employed in the campaign. Through
the actions that are taken to meet these goals, public knowledge and skill
are increased and resilience results. Additional goals that address specific
needs of an identified and assessed problem, a profiled population, and
a developed message (as identified by the CDC [1995] and other sources
[Baker, 1990]) are as follows:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Increase or enhance knowledge.
Refute myths/misconceptions.
Influence attitudes and social norms.
Develop skills.
Reinforce knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
Suggest/enable action.
Show the benefits of a behavior.
Increase support or demand for services.
Coalesce organizational relationships.
Each of these goals is relevant to the campaign, and therefore important, only if it contributes directly to what the campaign is ultimately
seeking to achieve, namely:
r Hazard awareness and accuracy of information
r Behavior change
r Individual and population-wide resilience (i.e., vulnerability
reduction)
r Sustainability
Priorities and Goals of Risk Communication Recipients
Risk exists in many forms, as experienced and perceived by individuals. In
a study performed by risk communication expert M. Granger Morgan and
his colleagues, citizens were asked to make lists of risks that concern them
the most. The responses ranged from threats that would result in injury or
death, such as accidents, disease, and crime; to economic risks that would
result in a financial loss for the individual; to personal concern-related
risks, such as love-life problems or problems in school or at work, among
others. Only 10% of the risks that were cited related to natural or technological hazards. Morgan and his team found that “whereas professional
risk experts devote many hours to considering rare and unusual hazards,
most people do not share this preoccupation. With jobs, family, friends,
and the other demands of daily living, their lives are filled with more
immediate concerns.” The authors summarize this statement in saying,
“The time that most people can devote to rare or unusual risks is usually
very limited” (Morgan et al., 2002 , p. 2).
For some of the risks people must face, such as those associated with
health (e.g., smoking) or safety (e.g., driving), there is a certain amount of
control that individuals possess to directly minimize their risk. For other
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risks, people can only indirectly minimize their risks, through social
processes (i.e., voting for certain risk controls or mitigation measures).
However, the authors write that
In all cases, [people] need a diverse set of cognitive, social, and emotional
skills in order to understand the information that they receive, interpret
its relevance for their lives and communities, and articulate their views
to others. They can acquire those skills through formal education, selfstudy, and personal experience. However, as diligent as they might be,
individuals are helpless without trustworthy, comprehensible information about specific risks. (p. 2)
Target populations, like risk communicators, have their own goals
that dictate their participation in a public education effort. While there
will always be a certain percentage of the target population that pays no
attention at all to communicators or their messages, most will recognize
the pertinence of the messages to their own life and seek more information upon which they will determine future action. How they go about
this and what kind of information they seek will not be uniform across
all issues they face. Once they elect to pay attention to the communicator’s
message, there are generally three areas that describe their intentions for
doing so.
1. Advice and Answers — This group consists of people who want
only to be told exactly what to do. They need step-by-step instruction on how to address the problem of which they have just been
informed. This group of people would rather be given the product
of an analysis process than be given all of the necessary information to draw conclusions themselves. This can be compared to the
faith that is held in the advice given by a trusted doctor, lawyer,
or other consultant.
2. Numbers — There are certain people who will not take advice
at face value. Rather, this group would prefer the option to draw
their own conclusions about what they need to do from a body of
statistical evidence that is provided to them by communicators.
This group would rather be faced with quantitative summaries of
expert knowledge than to be fed step-by-step instruction offering
little room for individual analysis and perspective.
3. Process and Framing — This group is composed of those individuals who prefer to fully analyze as many factors relevant to the problem as possible, assuming full ownership of their actions and any
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likely outcomes that result. Members of this group generally require
three primary data points with which to shape future action:
i. The costs associated with inaction versus those associated
with the actions prescribed by communicators
ii. The statistical likelihood of falling victim to a disaster and the
probable consequences should victimization occur
iii. The actual or expected reduction in risk that would be achieved
through each of the actions offered
This group is the most motivated and capable of the three, and
is interested in learning not only how vulnerabilities are created
through their own or their community’s actions, but also how they
or their community can control that risk. Using that information,
they understand that they will be able to assess their personal
circumstances, make individual identifications and assessments
of risk, and devise self-tailored solutions. (See Figure 1.5.)
Communicators must also be aware that the priorities and goals of
their target audience may not closely match their own. Many individuals’
goals may be directly opposed to the communicators’, or even opposed to
risk reduction in general. For instance, individuals who seek a waterfront
view for their home may elect to place themselves in a location that also
provides the most direct exposure to the forces of hurricanes, storm surges,
and erosion. While the ultimate reduction in risk would be to remove such
an individual from the source of risk (the oceanfront property), such an
action would probably be in too great opposition to their wants and needs
to bring about behavioral change. By identifying and accommodating the
goals of recipients, and developing and communicating strategies that
offer multiple solutions, communicators will achieve much greater success overall (even if the prescribed solutions would not have achieved as
significant risk reduction under more perfect circumstances).
Sidebar 1.3: The Various Publics
Public disaster preparedness education can be a powerful tool in helping not only individuals to change, but also groups, communities, and
even whole societies. The following list, compiled by the NIH, illustrates the different ways that risk communication can affect different
segments of society in an effort to bring about change:
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PUBLIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
English
~
Espanol
RussianPDF
VietnamesePDF
HOW TO PREPARE
Make a Plan
START HERE
Build a Kit
Get Involved
HOUSEHOLD/
FAMILY
HOME
SAFETY
CHILDREN
SENIORS &
DISABLED
PETS
UTILITIES
FOOD
WATER
FIRST AID
GO BAG
PHONE
VOLUNTEER
TRAINING
COMMUNITY
WHAT
TO DO
IF...
EARTHQUAKE
STORM/
FLOODING
TERROR
CONTAGIOUS
DISEASE
TRANSIT
SAFETY
EVACUATION
NO POWER
FIRE
TSUNAMI
SIRENS
SHELTER
IN PLACE
FIGURE 1.5 Screenshot from www.72hours.org, a public emergency preparedness education Website developed and maintained by the city and county of San
Francisco, California.
r Individuals — The interpersonal level is the most fundamental level of risk-related communication because individual
behavior most profoundly affects individual vulnerability.
Communication can affect individuals’ awareness, knowledge,
attitudes, self-efficacy, skills, and commitment to behavior
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COMMUNICATING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
r
r
r
r
change. Activities directed at other intended audiences for
change may also affect individual change, such as training
employees in how to apply at-work preparedness measures to
their home life.
Groups — The informal groups to which people belong and
the community settings they frequent can have a significant impact on their personal vulnerability and propensity
to participate in preparedness behavior. The groups include
relationships between customers and employees at a salon or
restaurant, members of the same gym or social club, students
and parents in a school setting, or employees at the same work
site. Risk communication is easily passed from a direct recipient to others within his or her informal social networks. In
fact, activities that are aimed at informal settings often enjoy
much greater success than those relying solely upon direct
formal communicator-to-recipient patterns.
Organizations — Organizations are groups with defined
structures, such as associations, clubs, or civic groups. This
category also includes businesses and government agencies.
Organizations can carry preparedness messages to their constituents, provide support for preparedness communication
programs, and make policy changes that encourage individual change.
Communities — Community leaders and policymakers can
be effective allies in influencing change in policies, products,
and services that can hinder or support people’s actions. By
influencing communities, disaster preparedness communication efforts can promote increased awareness of existing
hazards, changes in attitudes and beliefs, and group or institutional support for desirable behaviors. In addition, communication can advocate policy or structural changes in the
community (e.g., floodplain management and mitigation grant
funding) that encourage resilient behavior.
Society — Society as a whole influences individual behavior
by affecting norms and values, attitudes and opinions, and
laws and policies, and by creating physical, economic, cultural,
and information environments. Public disaster preparedness
education aimed at the societal level can change individual attitudes or behavior and thus change social norms. For instance,
greater awareness of the terrorism hazard brought about by
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the September 11th terrorist attacks resulted in public support
for much greater funding for local first responders.
Source: United States Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS). 2002. Making Health Communications Programs Work. Bethesda,
MD: National Institutes of Health.
SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE: COMMUNICATION
AS ONE COMPONENT OF A LARGER SOLUTION
Public disaster preparedness education campaigns are conducted to
address existing hazard vulnerabilities. Like all public education efforts,
when properly conducted, they can be highly effective in limiting behavior that fosters vulnerability and promoting behavior that reduces it.
Conducted in a vacuum, however, these efforts rarely succeed. This is primarily because vulnerabilities tend to have much deeper social roots that
extend far beyond a simple lack of knowledge (Paton and Johnson, 2001).
To maximize the effectiveness of the public disaster preparedness
education campaign, planners will need to view it as one attack in a battle
that is being conducted on several fronts. In the planning process, as is
detailed in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the roots of the vulnerability must
be assessed. These social factors may be financial, cultural, religious, or
of other origin. Likewise, as is true with all social problems (e.g., crime,
health, unemployment, homelessness), communication programs should
be integrated as much as possible into any larger, comprehensive efforts
that are currently addressing or that plan to address the same problem
from a similar or different perspective.
The various available components that are typically incorporated into
a comprehensive public disaster preparedness campaign include:
r Communication — Communication, as subsequent chapters illustrate, can come in many forms and by many different methods.
The target of these communication messages includes not only
the vulnerable population, but also the general public, educators,
the media, emergency services, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), policymakers, or anyone else who either needs to make a
behavioral change or can facilitate one.
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r Facilitation — Facilitation involves helping members of the target population take necessary action to reduce their vulnerability.
Oftentimes facilitation is necessary because certain individuals
are able to receive and understand the messages communicators
are sending them, but are unable to act upon them without outside assistance. Facilitation can also be a way to prompt reluctant individuals who are otherwise able to take action to do so.
Facilitation differs from communication in that the facilitators are
actually performing or assisting others in performing the tasks
required to change vulnerable behavior.
r Funding and financial incentives — While not all vulnerability
reduction solutions offered by public disaster preparedness education campaigns have an accompanied cost for recipients, most
do. By providing a grant or other financial incentive program
(like tax breaks or insurance discounts) to the target population,
it is often possible to prompt those for whom only money is a
restrictive factor into action. In many cases, even for those individuals who can afford the risk reduction measures but choose
not to out of ambivalence or some other self-limiting factor, the
chance to gain something for free or at a significantly reduced
cost is enough to initiate action.
r Policy change — Public policy, which includes laws, standards,
regulations, or operating procedures, for example, has long been
an effective way to create behavioral change. Policy action is best
suited in several different types of situations, such as when social
barriers prevent individuals who would otherwise prepare for a
hazard from doing so (e.g., requiring the posting of evacuation
signs in hotels), when a recognized safety standard is known but
not yet required in private life or on private property (e.g., building codes, seat-belt laws), or when implementing such laws or
requirements would bring greater benefit to the greater good of
the public (e.g., obligatory first aid education in public school).
r Technology — Technology alone is rarely an answer in the
emergency management world, but by harnessing technological
advances and devices, emergency managers have been able to significantly increase their ability to reduce death and destruction
among the affected population. This also applies to public disaster preparedness efforts, in that technology can help break down
existing barriers and improve the effectiveness of other efforts.
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For instance, various monitoring and detection systems have
allowed more accurate mapping of hazard risk, which in turn has
allowed people living or working within those risk zones to better
understand their exposure. Technology research has also helped
to develop cheaper and easier-to-use mitigation and preparedness devices that allow the public to reduce risk on a personal
level. Widespread use of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) weather radio is a perfect example of
how technology has improved preparedness (see Sidebar 1.4).
Sidebar 1.4: NOAA Weather Radios
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network
of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly
from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard
information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Working with the Federal
Communication Commission’s (FCC) Emergency Alert System, NWR
is an “All Hazards” radio network, making it the single source for
comprehensive weather and emergency information. In conjunction
with federal, state, and local emergency managers and other public
officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information
for all types of hazards, including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and
public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 telephone outages).
Known as the “Voice of NOAA’s National Weather Service,” NWR
is provided as a public service by NOAA, part of the Department of
Commerce. NWR includes more than 985 transmitters, covering all
50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and the U.S. Pacific Territories. NWR requires a special radio receiver
or scanner capable of picking up the signal. Broadcasts are found on
the VHF public service band at seven frequencies between 162.400 and
162.550 MHz.
NOAA broadcasts cannot be heard on a simple AM/FM radio
receiver. However, many receiver options range from handheld portable units that pick up only NWR to desktop and console models that
receive NWR in addition to other broadcasts. The National Weather
Service does not manufacture, sell, or endorse any particular make or
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model of receiver. Receivers can be found at many retail outlets, including electronics, department, sporting goods, and boat and marine
accessory stores and their catalogs. They can also be purchased via the
Internet from online retailers or directly from manufacturers. Many
municipal mitigation and preparedness programs have used grant
funding to supply residents with receivers free of charge, in conjunction with training in how to operate them. The following are types of
NWR receivers:
r Standalone: While these receivers might also come with AM/
FM bands, their primary use is to receive NWR broadcasts.
Buyers can choose between handheld and desktop models, depending on the portability desired. Prices range from
around $20 to over $100.
r Multi-band/function: These receivers bundle a number of features, and NWR is just one of possibly many frequency bands
included. This includes AM/FM radios, shortwave receivers,
CB radios, VHF marine radios, scanners, and more.
The following are features typical of NWR receivers:
r Tone alarm: The National Weather Service will send a 1050-Hz
tone alarm before most warning and many watch messages
are broadcast. The tone will activate all the receivers that are
equipped to receive it, even if the audio is turned off. This
is especially useful for warnings that occur during the night
when most people are asleep.
r SAME technology: SAME, or specific alert message encoding, allows users to specify the particular area for which they
wish to receive alerts. Most warnings and watches broadcast
over NWR are county based or independent city-based (parish
based in Louisiana), although in a few areas of the country
the alerts are issued for portions of counties. Since most NWR
transmitters are broadcasting for a number of counties, SAME
receivers will respond only to alerts issued for the area (or
areas) selected. This minimizes the number of “false alarms”
for events that might be a few counties away from where users
live.
r Selectable alerting of events: While SAME allows users to
specify a particular area of interest, some receivers allow
users to turn off the alarm for certain events that might not be
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important to them. For example, if you live in a coastal county,
but not right at the beach, you might not care about coastal
flood warnings.
r Battery backup: Since power outages often occur during
storms, having a receiver with battery backup can be crucial.
r External antenna jack: While most receivers come with a
whip antenna that can usually be extended out from the unit,
depending on location users may need an external antenna
to get good reception. Some receivers come with an external
antenna jack that allows users to connect to a larger antenna.
Source: NOAA, 2008.
Unfortunately, a great many public disaster preparedness education
campaigns are conducted wholly independent of any other supportive
approach that would likely have increased the desired change significantly.
Without such support, campaign planners set unrealistic expectations for
themselves concerning that which they can ultimately accomplish. In most
cases, the non-communication components of a preparedness campaign are
already being conducted or are available to recipients; however, the communication campaign planners are simply not aware of them and are therefore
unable to link their efforts. Thorough planning in the design phase can help
to locate as many of these other options as possible, thereby incorporating
them into the messages and actions that are developed and delivered.
Consider a campaign to increase the use of household smoke detectors to prevent injuries and deaths from fires (which cause over 4000
fatalities and tens of thousands of injuries each year in the United States
alone). Through effective risk communication, residents are informed that
they are at risk from house fires, told how that risk applies to them, and
given appropriate information about the value the use of a smoke detector
could provide in terms of giving them early warning about a fire in their
house. Even if translated into all applicable languages and broadcast on
all appropriate channels, using all necessary communication campaign
components (as described in this text), this communication effort alone is
likely to do little more than raise greater awareness of the hazard. Such
a limited campaign is unlikely to increase the number of homes that use
smoke detectors significantly above rates that were seen prior to the campaign. By understanding why people might not be using the devices, and
what else can be done to increase their use through the application of
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a more comprehensive preparedness campaign, it is possible to achieve
much greater results. For instance, it is often the case that there exist residents who, for one reason or another, lack the financial means to purchase
the devices. Through a simple need-based grant program, communicators can provide additional information about how to acquire free smoke
detectors, thereby eliminating the financial burden. Another obstacle
might originate from a lack of residents’ ability or time to install smoke
detectors in their homes. By promoting or creating a home inspection and
smoke detector installation program, especially one that carries no associated cost, another major roadblock will have been eliminated. By advocating or calling attention to local laws that mandate the use of smoke
detectors in the home, it may be possible to reach another group — those
who are reluctant to install smoke detectors for any number of reasons.
Finally, by promoting the many technological advances that have been
made in the smoke detector industry, including systems that contact the
fire department directly when triggered and others that are able to alert
people who are deaf or are sleeping, vulnerability is decreased even further. (See Figure 1.6.)
r To see an example of a program that offers smoke detectors free
of charge, managed by the James City, Virginia Fire Department,
visit: http://www.james-city.va.us/fire/smoke-detector.html
r To see an example of a program that offers funding for smoke
detectors for hearing impaired citizens, managed by the
Ohio State Government, visit: http://olrs.ohio.gov/asp/pub_
SmokeDetectorHandbook.asp
r To see an example of legislative action taken to drive the use
of smoke detectors, passed in Baltimore City, Maryland, visit:
http://www.peoples-law.org/housing/ltenant/legal%20info/
smoke%20detectors.htm
The key to ensuring a comprehensive campaign is not necessarily carrying out each of the components discussed previously. Rather, it is contingent upon the communication campaign planners to recognize these
other non-communication needs, to identify existing or likely sources to
accommodate them, and to incorporate them into the overall preparedness effort. This is described in detail in Chapter 4.
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Fun
din
g
“I am unable to
install smoke
detectors
myself.”
“I cannot
afford smoke
detectors.”
O
pt
ns
io
n
tio
it a
l
i
c
Fa
gy C
olo
tio
n
hn
nic a
Te
c
C o m mu
“I rent, and my
landlord didn’t
install smoke
detectors.”
hange
“I am deaf, and
cannot hear
the smoke
detector’s alarm.”
“Do smoke
detectors really
save lives?”
Po l i c y C h a n g e
FIGURE 1.6
A comprehensive smoke detector safety campaign.
REQUIREMENTS OF A PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
Although there is no single recipe by which all public education campaigns are developed, there do exist essential ingredients without which
success will range from difficult to nearly impossible. Perhaps the most
obvious requirement is that of trust in the communicator. Recipients of
risk information are unlikely to heed any instructions they hear or read
if they cannot lend any credibility to the source of those instructions.
However, trust only opens the door — a full range of components factor
into how well received a message ultimately finds itself among the target
population. Consider the characteristics of an effective public education
message that are listed in the following, each of which has been identified
and verified through years of research and practice in the public health
communication field:
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r Trustworthy — Public disaster preparedness education efforts ask
people to alter their behavior. This is a very personal request, and
one for which a great deal of trust is involved. If communicators cannot be believed, few will follow their instructions. One of the most
effective means of establishing trust is to indicate a connection with
an organization or institution that is highly regarded within the
community or by members of the population, or by having popular
community representatives (especially from within the target population) perceived as being involved in the communication effort.
r Authoritative — Individuals are free to choose to whom they listen. Even if trust has been established, people need to believe that
a communicator is an authoritative source of information, or else
they are likely to hold the views of another source (which may be
opposing or conflicting) more favorably. Recipients of the message must have confidence that the communicator is qualified and
sufficiently informed to tell them what to do.
r Free of personal gain — In a capitalist society, people receive a
barrage of advertising and consumerist information on products
and services. There is an inherent skepticism among the public
that nearly everyone is out for personal gain. Communicators
must be able to convince the public that their message is conveyed
only to serve the public good, not to gain anything in return. This
can be difficult to do, especially in instances where preparedness
requires recipients to purchase something or otherwise spend
their money.
r Accurate — Communicators must always assume that the recipient public is going to verify any information that is communicated
to them prior to acting on that information. For this very reason,
it is vital that any statistical or factual information be highly accurate and as current as possible. For specific statistical information,
it is often wise to cite a credible reference to back up whatever
claim is being made.
r Consistent — Public education campaigns are rarely just a onetime broadcast of a message. Rather, the campaign will seek
to repeat the message to ensure that it is received over a wide
enough segment of the target population and that it becomes
memorable to those who hear it. If the message that is transmitted
is not the same over time, the benefit of repetitiveness will be lost.
This is especially true if a catch phrase is used (e.g., “Stop, drop,
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r
r
r
r
and roll”). If the main point or argument of the message changes,
it will seem less credible to the recipient audience. This same
requirement extends to the use of multiple channels. For instance,
a message that is transmitted over the radio should match messages in print, on the Internet, and elsewhere, or else recipients
who make contact with multiple channels will likely become
confused. Finally, if different speakers present the message, each
must be consistent with the others, even if they are speaking to
multiple distinct target populations.
Repetitive — As the previous requirement suggests, recipients
must face repetitive exposure to a message before they are able to
learn from it. As is true with product marketing, the more exposure to a message that a person has, the more memorable that
message becomes.
Easily understood — Naturally, message recipients must be able
to understand a message if they are to receive it. There are many
components to this requirement. First, it must be in a language
they speak fluently or well enough to understand correctly what
is being said. Second, it must match their level of education if it is
to be fully understood (which includes writing using more technical language for more educated populations as well). It should
be relevant to situations and scenarios that are understandable to
the audience as a gender, culture, age, geographic grouping, and
other demographic measures.
Rational — In addition to a message being understood, it must
make sense in a rational and logical sense. Arguments have to be
as simple as possible for the audience targeted, and defensible justifications must be presented to support the measures advocated.
They should also contain concrete information on the addressed
hazards, including mortality rates, affected area, hazard time
frame, population affected, and others.
Accessible — All people receive their information in a unique
manner, based upon their preferences, access, social networks,
and other...
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