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?

We’ve heard over and over again from the media, “The lack of commu­ni­ca­tions in Haiti is preventing … ”

Many have spent years working diligently to ensure that commu­ni­ties and organi­za­tions can commu­ni­cate when disas­ter strikes. However, conflict­ing prior­i­ties and budget constraints have postponed spend­ing in this area — yield­ing late-night pleas for commu­ni­ca­tions gear in the immedi­ate after­math of each new disaster.

Another painful reminder that such commu­ni­ca­tions cannot be an after­thought if we want to minimize loss of life among the victims!