The reasons behind a communication fiasco, lessons learned, and what we can do to improve the situation
In Norway, the Breivik report, a 482-pages fat document, has
been released yesterday. The findings are damning for the Norwegian police
department.
A striking lack of communication prevented the murderer from
being arrested much sooner. This could have saved many lives. Some of the
critics included:
- Bad communication between units
- Emergency centres were flooded with calls
- Sightings of the murderer in Oslo city centre after the bombing were not forwarded properly
- Existing emergency procedures were not followed
- Security measures already approved had not been implemented
- No immediate nationwide alert was given
- No attempt was made to mobilise helicopters
Details about the above can be read in the press. These
findings do not surprise me, and here is why:
Emergency management is about communication, communication, communication
A lot is invested today in communication means to assist
decision makers, first responders, fire fighters, police forces, soldiers.
These tools will be very efficient, when communication is implemented and
handled in a homogeneous environment, i.e. fire fighter talking to fire fighter,
policeman talking to policeman. But it will utterly fail, as soon communication
needs to be handled in a heterogeneous environment, where:
- You do not know, who needs to be called in a different unit / brigade / department / organisation: it is not easy to share vital information with other organisations, when you do not have access to the identity of whom you need to inform, and especially what kind of information they need
- You do not know where the actors are, and how to reach them: thanks to mobile communication technology (smartphone, laptop, mobile phone,…), mobility makes it harder to locate and inform a person
- You do not use the same communication tools: for example police forces will use digital radio, Red Cross voluntaries rely on mobile phones
- You do not use the same words: a wind blowing at 100 km/h will be considered as a yellow alert storm by police forces, but will provoke a red alert amongst first responders
Para bellum, si vis pacem
In our civilised countries, a lot of effort and investment
is made in implementing security measures to avoid accidents or crises. Alarm
systems to avoid burglary, fire extinguishers to avoid fire, dams to avoid
floods.
But how much is actually made to prepare the actors, and ultimately
the population to the unexpected or the worst case scenario? Human nature does
not like bad news, so we will ignore warnings of disasters, until something bad
happens. We are living in a world where every citizen is expecting to see
running water when turning the tap, or see light in his home at the switch of a
button. And this 100% of the time. In our countries nobody is really prepared to spending days,
even hours without electricity, because everyone relies on the fact, that “necessary
measures have been taken to make sure this never happens.” But is it really
so? Can we be sure, that nothing bad will happen to us, because millions were
invested in securing infrastructures and the supply chain?
When investing in securing the well being of the population,
more effort and resources need to be allocated
into preparing for the worst case scenario, just in case our safety pins do not
hold together.
About population resilience
As Patrice Dallem, Director for First Response and Emergency
at French Red Cross, told me once, population
needs to be fully integrated in the communication chain in emergency
situations. ”In case of an earthquake,
most lives are saved in the very first minutes by direct relatives and
neighbours. In emergency situations, population always shows great ability to
adapt to extreme situations, and react promptly to natural disasters.”
So why is it, that in our modern civilisation, population is
kept outside the vital communication chain before, during, and after emergency
situations? A better information would increase their resilience capabilities.
Police forces know what to do, if a spree killer attacks a
school, but do teachers know what to do? Have they been given instructions on
when they need to leave a room, or on the contrary to stay confined?
Is population properly informed when drinking water is
polluted? If yes, will they also be informed, when the situation is restored?
When I was a kid, we learned at school how to recognise the
different tones provided by the sirens in our village, warning of fire, storm or nuclear
threat. The sirens still exist, they are tested once a month during lunch time,
but as nobody is at home, nobody even knows they exist, and I am convinced
nobody would react to them in an emergency situation.
Anyway, in today’s times, there is no excuse anymore in not
keeping citizens properly informed, considering the multitude of communication
channels offered. So, first, prevention needs to be promoted at school, then
communication towards the population needs to be properly organised. In a
crisis situation, they will at least know how to help themselves, until outside assistance is available.
It is not about technology, it is about being prepared
In the last decades, mobile technologies have revolutionised
our lives. Imagine, no emails 25 years ago, no SMS text messages 20
years ago, and no smartphones only 5 years ago. Twitter and Facebook are bringing
us into a new dimension of communication. All these means can, and should be
used to improve the way we communicate and protect ourselves from the
unexpected. There are tools out there, that specialise in exactly
that. Without them, it will not be possible to properly manage an intelligent
communication, that will be at the same time targetted, performing and useful.
But let us not forget that these tools should be used to
assist the actors, not to replace them. At the end of the day, you can have the
most sophisticated alert, notification and information system in place, if you
are not prepared, there will be nobody there to use it!
Luxembourg, 14th August 2012
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