Should Location of Public Shelters Be Disclosed?

Today, I attended the second day of a very informative workshop dealing with issues of regional evacuation planning within Northern Nevada. The presenter, Jonathan Best of Disaster By Design LLC, shed light on the challenges of dealing with issues of disclosure of information before and during disasters.

The focus of the second was on issues like critical issues like crisis communication, evacuation routes and public shelters. One issue that caught my personal attention is this:

Is it Ok for emergency management authorities not to disclose the location of public shelters and potential evacuation routes to the general public?

Upon reflecting on the issue, I found reasons both in favor and not in favor of disclosing the location of shelters and evacuation routes.

Based on the public ’s right to know, one may argue that:

• It is in the interest of the public to know the location of these places and routes regardless,
• Whoever refuses to disclose these places of public interest should be willing to face consequence in event of a disaster
• It is the absolute of the public to be informed in a democratic and pluralistic society

On the other hand, one may also argue that it is not a wise thing to disclose because:

• It is in the interest of the public to protect this information because terrorist may abuse such information
• It allows authorities to make adjustments depending on the kind of disaster that occurs
• Non disclosure enables the citizens to follow instructions from authorities and not rush to shelters- perhaps creating issue.

According to the workshop leader, Mr Best, issues of disclosure vary from place to place. He explained that he believes the issue is best resolved at a local level.

Please share with us what you think. 

Should public authorities disclose or not disclose the location of public shelters and evacuation routes to the general public prior to disasters? Leave a comment. Thanks!

Gideon F. For-mukwai, CEM

Reno, Nevada Emergency Management Blogger

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Road to Ready Show Rides on Edutainment

Featured Emergency Manager

It is about time emergency managers make emergency preparedness fun and educational enough to inform, teach and tickle the funny bone. Rick Tobin, the producer of Internet radio show ‘The Road to Ready,” has been doing a fun and lively emergency preparedness program that serves slices of information and humor for years.

Founder, TAO Emergency Consulting

For years, listeners have been drawn to Mr. Tobin ‘s style of emergency preparedness edutainment served with comic relief. Making information fun and lively made a significant difference and the show covered topics that had an impact on the lives of everyday people and corporations.

In his weekly radio show out of San Antonio, Texas, Mr. Tobin reminds his audiences of the threats facing large sections of the population. To drive the point home, he relates the issues to individuals, corporations and communities. At the end of every show, he makes a call to action.

In the past, he has tackled issues like evacuations, church disaster planning, hurricane planning and family emergency preparedness to name a few.

Looking into the future, Mr. Tobin foresees increasing use of social media like Facebook and Twitter and more. He however thinks that social media tools are largely untested.

As disasters become more challenging, people will increasingly need to glue together through networking and collaboration for readiness. Social media will hopefully facilitate that conversation.

Over the years, Mr. Tobin has worked as a consultant for government, businesses and communities in California, Nevada and Texas. His company, TAO Emergency Consulting was founded in 1987.

Mr Tobin says he is driven by his primary desire to preserve life through effective preparedness. Though he is concerned about the future of his radio show due to faltering sponsorships, he is convinced he will continue to lead TAO Emergency Consulting.

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All-Hazards Regional Evacuation Planning

Today, I attended a regional evacuation planning workshop at the Washoe County Regional Emergency Operations Center in Reno. Conducted by Jonathan Best of Disaster by Design LLC, the day one focused on the importance of a team approach to planning for all-hazards.

After the first day, I went away with five key lessons to ponder over:

• Preparedness starts at personal and family level- it is crucial to have family communication plan for the family to re-unite after an evacution
• Cities need to plan for spill-over effects of handling evacuees from nearby cities of states- Nevada needs to plan to receive evacuees from California, Arizona, Utah or Oregon
• Evacuation planning must take into consideration vulnerable populations with special needs
• It is important to consider hospitals and healthcare as part of the critical infrastructure to be at the top of the list for evacuations
• Public-private partnerships are crucial in planning, response and recovery during disasters  

As the workshop continues tomorrow, I will keep an eye on finding a different perspective on all-hazard planning.

Gideon F. For-mukwai, CEM

Reno-Nevada ’s Premier Emergency Management Blog

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Washoe County Becoming Epicenter of Swine Flu in Nevada

With latest reports of new cases of swine flu confirmed in Washoe County, our county is apparently the epicenter of this disease in Nevada. Reno Gazette Journal reported this morning that there are 20 confirmed cases with over 50% at Mendive Middle School in the City of Sparks. 

This raises new questions about what local authorities are doing to curb this flu. Is Washoe County School District in collaboration with Washoe County Health District doing enough in handling this issue in our county?

• Are the school and health districts doing enough to curb the spread?
• Are the authorities acting or reacting to the situation?
• What else are they doing to prevent a further worsening of the situation?
• Are the authorities complacent or issues unattended to?

Weeks ago, when the authorities refused to close down the pre-school that had the first case of H1N1 in Washoe County, I was very troubled because they missed a huge opportunity to restore public confidence. Their refusal to close down that school, troubled me because when I lived through SARS in Singapore  the situation was different. Before the peak of the dissease, the government closed down all schools just to restore confidence, not withstanding the fact that not all schools had SARS cases.

If you can leave me your point or a question on this matter, I will seek an interview with the authorities to dig to the bottom of this matter.

Gideon F. For-mukwai, CEM

Reno ’s Premiere Emergency Management Blogger

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Child Safety is Not Child ’s Play

By Gideon F. For-mukwai, CEM

In the age of Web 2.0 technologies with MMS phones,

In an era that teenagers have become screenagers and spend all day facing screens,

‘Sexting’ is on the rise, and parents need to know how to deal with kids who are vulnerable.

Cell Phone and Online Teen Safety is an Issue

Have you heard about the latest cybercrime ’sexting’? Sexting is a new type of cyber crime in which children (often minors) share nude digital photos via cell phones with their friends. Sexting is on the rise nationwide. Right here in Washoe County, a number of people are facing the law for involving in this criminal activity that sometimes leads to stalking, bullying or rape. 

Reno Gazette Journal reports about a recent meeting in Reno, organized by Girls Scouts of Sierra Nevada to educate parents about ’sexting’,#mce_temp_url#   It is very important that parents and teachers learn about this to enhance family and school safety. If you do not have knowledge of this, you will be unable to deal with it.

In order to prevent your child from falling prey to sexting, you need to educate your child about the consequences of transmitting nude  digital photos. As children, they can lose their academic or sport scholarships. It can also result to child pornography.

4 Things You Need To Know About Cyber Safety:

• Advise your child to refrain from taking nude pictures of themselves
• Engage and educate your child on digital activities through your own involvement in MySpace, Facebook et al
• Advise your child NOT to share indecent pictures of themselves with anybody (unless good enough for parents)
• Inform your child to report cases of nude digital photos to school counselor or else face consequences

For more information about bout to educate your kids about digital safety, you may check out: stop cyber bullying or netsmartz.

Keep learning about digital safety

Our children are going through a lot today.

Never under estimate the importance of advice.

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