IDRC14-ppp-Eileen Culleton final

Editor's Notes

• #3: For those of you who haven’t heard of the Emergency 2.0 Wiki, it is a free global resource for using social media and new technologies in emergencies and for sharing knowledge.
• #4: Tips for the Emergency 2.0 Wiki is your one-stop-shop Global directory of agencies on social media Smart phone apps directory, plus maps and mapping tools, videos Tips for the public (use for staff, own website) Guidelines Policies and procedures, Risk and Mitigation checklist (RMIA) Library – guidelines, reports etc sourced from around the world
• #5: The impetus was the Queensland floods in Australia in 2011 in which there was loss of life with people being swept away in flashfloods and then an inland tsunami that wiped out entire towns. I wondered how many lives could have been saved if people had received warning through social media. A big barrier to this was that very few agencies were using social media, and it was because there were no guidelines to help them get started. At that time there were no guidelines for using social media in emergencies online to be found (I was writing guidelines for my local council). An initiative of Government 2.0 QLD community of practice, Brisbane, Australia after the floods of 2011 Key driver was to create a one-stop-shop for resources and learnings so that we don’t need to keep reinventing the wheel. I said lets create a wiki, not just for ourselves or our country but the world and so the wiki was born. Aim to accelerate takeup by response agencies, but also to empower the whole community for disaster resilience. Wiki is a non profit run entirely by volunteers including myself.
• #6: The Emergency 2.0 Wiki community brings together professionals from all sectors: emergency response agencies, government, ngos, business, academia and the media As well as our alliances, the content is lead by international reference groups of professionals representing. The content is developed through a collaborative knowledge sharing model, crowdsourcing the latest technology and best practices. Here are our alliances from across the sectors Advisory Board for EU Security FP7 Project ATHENA which will be submitted under the EU Security FP 7 call (SEC-2012.6.1-3) Use of new communication/social media in crisis situations.
• #7: We serve a global community.
• #9: A whole of community response involves Emergency services how engaging with the community as ‘partners’ in the emergency response, This means utilising social media for two way communication, Amplification, Collaboration, Integration, Can powerfully assist communities to better prepare for, respond to and recover from disaster.
• #10: But first and foremost, emergency response agencies need to incorporate social media into their operations. Despite it’s increasing popularity, social media is still not a normal part of mainstream emergency communications globally. To accelerate takeup of social media by response agencies, capacity building is needed. Guidelines and training resources are key to this. This is where the wiki comes in. For those countries without guidelines, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains links to guidelines produced for various governments, such as the United States and New Zealand, which countries can adapt. The NZ guidelines were developed with assistance from the Emergency 2.0 Wiki which facilitated an international peer review. They have since been translated into French. To assist emergency services to ensure their social media messages can be accessed by people with disabilities, the Emergency 2.0 Wiki created an Accessibility Toolkit. And we have a link to the FEMA online training course which is free.
• #11: A whole of community approach involves emergency services engaging with the community as ‘partners’ in disaster resilience, Recognising we all have a role to play.
• #12: Local governments play an integral role in all phases of a disaster. For an example of the ‘whole of community approach’ in action, with the Qld floods, the Brisbane City Council also utilised a crowdmap in which they both posted information themselves, about sandbag locations for example and they asked the community to help by providing their own information.
• #13: Schools can increase resilience in their communities by using social media to share preparedness information with parents. During a disaster schools can use social media to notify parents of closures (or if they are being utilised as an evacuation shelter) and in the recovery phase schools can use social media to point parents to recovery information or volunteer opportunities. The New York City Department of Education utilised Twitter @NYCSchools http://www.twitter.com/nycschools and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/NYCschools to issue preparedness messages to school staff and parents, to alert of pending school closures, schools being used as evacuation centres and to rally donations for emergency relief and volunteers in the recovery phase.
• #14: Hospitals can increase resilience in their communities by using social media during disasters to: alert the community to cancelled appointments and elective surgeries, hospital evacuations and closures and updates to patients’ families. In the recovery phase social media can also be used to provide updates to hospital employees on reporting for work. The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation HHC utilised Twitter and Facebook to Alerts for cancelled outpatients appointments and elective surgeries Alerts for pending evacuations Updates to patients’ families Updates to staff on reporting for work
• #15: NGOs, community groups, faith based groups, volunteer groups and services clubs are best positioned to tap into local needs in times of disaster and to help the community during the long road to recovery when outside help and media attention subsides. Community groups can utilise their established social networks to help amplify preparedness and alert messages. Due to their position of trust they can also be a valuable provider of situation awareness information for emergency response agencies. In the recovery phase their networks can be quickly utilised to mobilise emergency relief and volunteer activities.
• #16: Digital volunteer organisations specialising in disaster response can play an integral role in helping emergency response agencies during disaster response and recovery. Activities include: mapping disaster areas online and aggregating, analysing and posting information on the impact and needs; sharing and amplifying official emergency messages via social media; monitoring messages and cries for help from the public via social media and sms; v verifying messages posted via social media, sms and crowdsource maps; Because they operate across the globe and across timezones, they can help provide 24 hour assistance
• #17: The private sector can increase business resilience by incorporating social media into their business continuity plans The Wiki has a whole section on this.
• #18: In the recovery phase businesses can use social media to seek assistance or to post offers to donate goods, services and for volunteer help. A great example of using technology to enable businesses to directly help business is the Sandy Coworking map established by a member of the business technical community – in which buisnesses offering with office space and other services such as internet connection and mobile device recharging could enter this on a map (themselves) using the Ushahidi crowdmap tool. The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains a wealth of information on using social media for business continuity and helping the community.
• #19: Citizens can play an important partnership role in all phases of a disaster. They can help increase the preparedness of their social networks by sharing agency preparedness messages and tools such as disaster apps. During a disaster they can help amplify official messages and provide situation awareness through social media messaging and geo-tagged images and video from the scene. In the recovery phase they can use social networks to let loved ones know they are safe or to rally friends and family to join them in volunteer activities or donations. And again, provide situation awareness to response agencies. Fema has an app that enables the public to upload images from the disaster zone to share with agencies and the community.
• #20: Now, to create this world where the whole community joins together for disaster resilience, capacity building is needed. This involves providing education and information on the role they can play in using social media for disaster resilience to help themselves, each other and emergency response agencies. Public education campaigns and materials need to have social media integrated into them with simple, action oriented information such as “Follow us on Twitter for up to date alerts” or “Download our disasters app”. Campaigns also need to encourage citizens to help each other by sharing disaster information via their social networks. To encourage effective sharing of location based information for situation awareness, citizens need guidance on key information protocols such as adding the official #hashtag and the time when sharing warnings and enabling GPS on mobile devices when sharing images from the scene. The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains a wealth of information that can be incorporated into public education campaigns.
• #21: And we need to capacity build and empower our most vulnerable to use social media to be prepared, to access warnings and alerts and up to date information. Because social media has accessibility issues, we have created an Accessibility toolkit to: - Firstly enable people to overcome accessibility issues - Secondly to provide guidelines for emergency response agencies to ensure their social media messages are accessible.
• #22: Moving onto empowering the community - to help themselves, each other and emergency response agencies in all phases of a disaster, is providing access to official tools and platforms containing timely disaster information.
• #23: Our top 4: Twitter Alerts for example are a special disaster service available to agencies, enabling sms style ‘push notifications’ to followers during a disaster. Agencies need to sign up for this free service and then encourage their followers to subscribe to receive their alerts. The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains tips on how agencies and the community can use effectively use Twitter in all phases of a disaster. It also has a link to the Twitter Alert global directory.
• #24: Facebook, as the most popular social media channel globally, is invaluable for establishing disaster resilience as a social norm. Its visual emphasis makes Facebook an effective channel for educating about disaster risk, and encouraging preparation. Facebook is also very effective for alerts, updates and the recovery phase. However, due to the way newsfeeds are aggregated, paid advertising is now essential to ensure wide message reach. The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains tips on how agencies and the community can use effectively use Facebook in all phases of a disaster.
• #25: Due to the rise of mobile technology and smartphones one of the most useful tools for disaster resilience are disaster apps. In an emergency your phone is your lifeline, and the technology is available to develop apps that contain: Preparedness info Multi-hazard live alerts Two way communication Sharing photos from the scene Social sharing The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains a global directory of disaster apps
• #26: Crowdmaps can be used to empower citizens for resilience in all phases of a disaster. Crowdmaps are interactive maps enabling citizens to find location based disaster information as well as to share their own reports, photos and videos from the scene via sms, tweets, email or webform. To enhance disaster preparation emergency response agencies can post key information such as evacuation shelters. During the disaster agencies can post incident information such as closed roads. After the disaster agencies can post locations for emergency relief such as water, food and shelters. Just as important is the capability for two way information. Citizens can share situation awareness information to help response agencies and their fellow citizens by posting geo-tagged sms, tweets, images and videos of incidents such as flooded roads and damage/debris In the recovery phase crowdmaps can serve as an online hub for communities to help themselves and each other, for example posting locations for volunteer meeting points and donated goods and services. Ushahidi, a free open source tool with a mobile app is the leading crowdmap tool. The Emergency 2.0 Wiki contains a crowdmap directory and tips. To support recovery in Staten Island a Crowdmap, created by the community was populated with information from the public via text, tweet using the hashtag #helpsi or directly online. This Ushahidi map automatically updates reports of relief help available or people in need as well as relief stations and volunteer opportunities. Businesses can update donated services and goods as well. Become the online recovery hub for that community.