Utilizing Social Networks to Reach Disability and Emergency

Management Communities

Carol Dunn, City of Bellevue Emergency Preparedness Division @caroldn

www.2resilience.org2resilience Blog

Succeed or Fail?

• Social Media– Fail: “What do I do with it?”– Success: “What can I do better with it?”

• What does Emergency Management work to do better?– Reduce the impact from disasters

• How?– persuading others to act.

Social media has the potential to help emergency management do this better.

Reduce risk of harm

• Identify who faces the highest risks & work to reduce the risks:– In unsafe area, or structure– Unaware of hazard or how to reduce risks– Taken by surprise: no warning– Unable to get to a safe location– Unable to communicate need for help– Lose access to critical necessities or service

Social Media Potential

• Overcoming communication barriers• Hazard identification & risk reduction

– online maps, training, tutorials• Raising Awareness

– Potential for direct and passive contact with individuals that face higher risk factors and their families, friends & care-providers.

• Provide tools so people can act independently

Independence

• #PDXBoom

Independence

But:

April 13: The State of California Predicts an 8.4 Earthquake within 24 Hours Forwarded almost 500 times-people left work, rumors ran rampant

But!

• Social Media has great potential reducing and overcoming communication and information barriers: BUT– Accessibility isn’t automatic-takes thought

and planning– Not everyone has access to social media– Many rules block the ability to take

advantage

• A police officer using in-car laptop/camera to connect with ASL interpreter via Video Relay is against FCC rules

• Insurance companies won’t cover netbooks/smart phones for medical use

Work to be done!

• Work to adopt policies and build infrastructure that will end the digital divide.

• Reach out and influence each other=work to merge. – Best way to overcome largest challenges is to

take advice from people who solve them every day.

List of web tools

• List of Social Media/Web 2.0 Tools – http://tinyurl.com/Soc-Media-tools

• Web Based Real Time Information– http://tinyurl.com/Real-Time-Information

• Overcoming Communication Barriers– http://tinyurl.com/Overcome-comm-barriers