Emergency 2.0

Yesterday I mentioned (or at least, intended to mention) the lag between the official "Emergency Notification Systems" in place where I work and the actual event as it blew up on social media. 

There was anywhere from a 15-30 minute lag time between the quake and notifications via email/land line phone. I never actually received text alerts, although I'm signed up for them and have received them in the past (although some cell services were down/flooded). The decision to evacuate didn't reach me until almost 3:00pm, and it was shared by someone who walked the hallways knocking on doors.

Which of course begs the question... when an event can erupt over facebook instantly (I got info about the quake, reported/updated magnitude and epicenter, etc, within 8-10 minutes or so via Facebook postings), how can that power be used to make emergency communications more effective?

I think this is a question that must be asked of those who design the community response infrastructure.

Howard County has sort of done this - for example, today I saw a safety update/recommendation from Ken Ulman on facebook about reporting damage and emergency preparedness. But I don't recall seeing any coordinated messages yesterday via facebook - did I miss them (entirely possible)? Anyone?  (hocoblogs@@@)


In the mean time, look at this shiny and relevant infographic, featured today via The American Red Cross, which kind of illustrates my point. I'm surprised that the numbers of people that get info via FB/Twitter aren't higher, but also recall that there was "info passing" from those sources in the halls at work. So FB & Twitter may play a larger role than can be measured directly.


How do you think Social Media should be incorporated (if at all) in emergency response?

Social Media in Emergencies

Edit to add: Marshmallow Man mentions the local response he received within hours of the quake over on 53 beers.

Earthshake!

By now, I suspect it will surprise no one to hear that we had a small earthquake here on the East Coast.

Ok, not so small. 5.9 on the Richter Scale (or, by some reports, 5.8). Now, if you're like me and can count the number of times you've been in a quake on one hand (yes, it's more than one), that number doesn't mean a whole lot.

Here's what it meant for me: my lab is centrally located in a pretty solid building on campus. The tremors were strong enough to rattle all the glassware on the shelves, the chemical hood behind me, and create a swaying sensation (easily felt as I was cowering cleverly crouched under my desk).

It was very disorienting, especially in the few seconds it took me to figure things out. I work alone, so there was no one I could ask "did you feel that?" until well after it was over.

The University's response was strange. Emergency notification came in the form of two email (in the 15-20 minutes post-quake), and a robocall (about 35 minutes after). There was then an "evacuation" of our building, but not others in the continuous complex.

I was actually amused by the warning time, although considering the size of the campus and the coordination required it was probably pretty fast. This might spinoff a post about the expectation of immediate information - for example, how facebook blew up with info immediately - and how social media could be put to use by emergency notification systems.

But I digress.

After milling around a while, I "snuck" back in, finished my work, and left.

Even though the buildings were reopened, police remained on the corners of MLK. I'm not sure what they were looking for, but as of 4:30 or so they showed no signs of moving. Some of them looked like they'd been pulled on duty - still in jeans and plain tee shirts, with only a police vest to mark them.

At the corner of MLK and Pratt Street.

It was a very odd day, courtesy of what might have been the Spotsylvania Fault Line, according to a report on NPR (I couldn't find the link, but the quake already has its own Wiki Page).


Oh yes, and everyone I know seems to be alright.


What was your Earthquake experience?