A Year after Haiti. Is Communication Still a Big Issue in Preparedness?

Wow. A year has already passed since that mind-numbing earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince. Ringing in my ear since has been a soundbite from Jill Dougherty, CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent, reporting the morning after:

“But when you have an operation like this, you have to be coordinated, you have to know where you’re going. And one of the big issues at the beginning was just communication. Think of it—the State Department couldn’t even talk to the officials in the Haitian government initially.”

Can We Communicate Better Today?

What if a Haiti-like event—or any disruption that knocks out communications and power—happened in your community today? Could your government officials call anyone outside the area to coordinate critical resources?  Could your county emergency managers reach the governor to identify needs and request support? Could the governor and his or her staff email or call FEMA? Would anyone be able to tweet or update the community on Facebook or other social networks? Would they be in the same boat as Haitian officials were a year ago today?

If Haiti’s leaders had portable satellite communications kits with solar power, Washington could have known what they needed within minutes—instead of hours, even days—of the 7.0 quake.

To honor the memory of those lost a year ago and to respect the lives of people everywhere, let’s resolve to be resilient. Let’ accept the fact that communications networks can and do fail—more often than we like to admit. Without adequate communications for sharing situational awareness, people unnecessarily suffer—even die. Let’s commit to having a Plan B so lack of communications is never a question for rapid response when lives are at stake.

Volcanic Events of Importance

Though it may come as a surprise to many, 10 to 20 volcanic “events of importance” occur globally every month.

On a recent consulting assignment, I learned that volcanic ash in the atmosphere can cause real problems for airplane engines, and the airlines must balance safety and efficiency in response to these events. The goal from a safety perspective is to avoid aircraft encounters with volcanic ash. From the perspective of efficiency, the  goal is to minimize re-routing of aircraft.

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Disaster Strikes When You Least Expect It

The nightmare in Haiti once again hammers home this age-old axiom.

How many more people will die in the future because of our complacency – in this country and elsewhere?

How many times do we have to witness such disasters only to find that once again lack of communications is the greatest hindrance to rapid and accurate assessment of the impact? How many people could have been saved if communications were available to quickly obtain accurate situational awareness and better coordinate the resources for search and rescue?

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Preparedness as a Gift

The holiday season, for many, is a time of gathering with family and friends. It’s a time when we share gifts, and as a prelude to the new year, it is also a time of reflection. However, many throughout the world are not at peace, are not gathering with friends and family, are not sharing gifts. It is time we awaken to the fact that we are indeed in a new age – an age in which we need to stop thinking just about ourselves and begin to care more about other people and indeed all living things.

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OODAkit FAQs

Here are the OODAkit FAQs. But if we missed your questions, please post it the comment field below so we can include it!

Never Forget Disaster while Enjoying Peace

Complacency turns mere emergencies into disasters. Much like taking the blessings of nature for granted has yielded a fragile environment intolerant of more abuse,  postponing disaster preparedness because it’s been awhile is like piling combustible materials in the direct path of a raging forest fire. It will burn out of control.

Do you ever wonder why most experts suggest stockpiling 2 weeks of critical supplies when, until recently, the recommendation has been 3 days?