Communication in Emergencies

There are two different kinds of situations where communication between a community and an agency would be important.

1. A chronic, low-level situation. This would be a long-term event, something about which constant dialogue, eduation, or messages would be required. For example, communications between Departments of Health and food preparation establishments or restaurants about food safety and how to properly ensure good hygiene would be a long-term communications need, because the issue does not go away.

2. An acute, high-level situation. This would most likely be a short-term event, something about which immediate action and communication would be required. Using the previous example, the listeria outbreaks in poultry and poultry-packaging plants constituted an acute situation, because the immediate problem needed action and appropriate communication in order to be solved.

These acute situations can be called emergencies. Defining an emergency can be a difficult thing to do. What seems like an emergency to one person may seem like a run-of-the-mill occurence to another. For individuals, there may not be a clear definition of an emergency, but the idea that "I know one when I see it." There are some events, however, that are generally agreed upon emergencies, particularly those emergencies that pose some threat to health. In these events, communication between those responding to the emergency and those who are affected by the emergency is especially crucial.

Emergency situations pose a different set of circumstances than chronic, low-intensity, regularly occurring situations. Because the nature of an emergency requires some sort of immediate response, communications in an emergency can require a very different approach than other communications strategies. Some of these approaches and strategies are included in the following sections.

"All residents are advised to remain indoors until further notice."

"The threat advisory level has been raised to an elevated risk of terrorist attack, or yellow level."

"Fire!"