Few people will remember that today is the 34th anniversary of the disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Nevertheless, this was a focusing event that solidified resistance towards nuclear power in the United States and remains an example of how poor decision making and crisis communication can turn an emergency into a […]
Last week I wrote about the case of the hotel in Los Angeles where a decomposing body was found in the water cistern. I asked how you would craft your initial crisis communications. Since no one has stepped up to the challenge, I'll offer my own thoughts on the subject. Here's what I would advise […]
Download Persuasive Presentations March 2013
The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles Photo: CNN Here's an interesting case study in crisis communications: You are the owner of a hotel. For several days you've been receiving complaints that the water tastes funny. Some guests have commented that the shower will run black for a few minutes then clear. Water pressure has been […]
A question came up recently on the Emergency Management Issues Facebook Page regarding the basis for the 72 hour preparedness model. It's always fun to see the reasons people come up with to explain it. I know – I've done it myself. The simple fact is that there really is no empirical basis for preparing for […]
There's an interesting article in this morning's San Francisco Chronicle that restates what experts like my colleague Johnathan Bernstein have been saying for years: social media has almost eliminated the time you have to react to a crisis. In the article, Chronicle writer Carla Marinucci describes how the proliferation of social media sites has created […]
Levee failure California Delta 2004 Photo: California Dept of Water Resources A good friend offered this comment on my recent blog on San Francisco's push to mandate mitigation: NY did not mandate mitigation & Congress just rewarded them with BILLIONS. Not fiscally prudent to mandate/mitigate. His point is well-taken and highlights one of the major […]
Please join me this Wednesday, February 11th at 9:00 AM PST on EM Forum for an interactive discussion on planning assumptions. My topic is, "Are Your Emergency Operations Plans Realistic?" I'll be discussing some of the issues I raised in my recent article Paper Plans and Fantasy Documents and in a recent post in my Managing Crisis […]
Typical San Francisco soft-story building. Photo: Lea Suzuki – The Chronicle One of the problems with retrofitting properties to make them safer is motivating people to actually do the work. Building code changes are generally not retroactive which means that a building owner need not comply with new standards unless remodeling projects are extensive enough […]