Bottom Line: Helping People Get Ready and Know What To Do for Disaster

By Rocky Lopes
Homeland Security Manager
National Association of Counties, Washington D.C
August 2007

I was not surprised but still shocked to read in a Council for Excellence in Government report titled “The Aftershock of Katrina and Rita: Public Not Moved to Prepare”* that:

• Katrina was not a motivator for disaster preparedness. 38% of Americans said that Katrina/Rita gave them absolutely no motivation to prepare.
• Despite the horrific images of family displacement/despair on TV, most Americans still have no plan for how to communicate with family members.
• The public continues to approach preparedness with a detached sense of reality. 54% of people admit that one reason they choose not to be more prepared is because they do not believe that a disaster will affect them personally.
• Post-Katrina, 44% of people report that they have not done more to prepare for a disaster because they do not know what to do. This is up from 37% in August 2005.

The challenges faced by those involved in community outreach are enormous when surveys reveal that most people expect that “the government” and insurance will restore everything lost in a disaster, or feel that “it can’t (or won’t) happen to me”. This is classic “denial” – not a river in Egypt, but a state of mind.

So what can you do about it? Here are tips for engaging the disengaged and helping people be more prepared—

• Focus on what can happen where people live. Avoid the “all hazards approach” in describing every possible event that could happen. People will prepare for what they think can happen to them where they are. If they’re prepared for one thing, they’re better able to respond to anything else.
• Explain what we know in simple terms. Use local language and descriptions, and avoid disaster and fire jargon that is meaningless to the public.
• Use “we” and “our” to personalize presentation content, and the word “residents of (x town)” or a descriptor for people in your area, such as “Marylanders”. Avoid using the word “citizens” which is government jargon. Disaster preparedness is about people, and has nothing to do with United States citizenship. (Referring to “citizens” of cities, counties, and states is a common misnomer).
• Explain why. If the directions don’t make sense or seem of little value, explaining why can encourage behavior change.
• Explain what to do, not what not to do. List of “do’s and don’ts” don’t work.
• Use images that show people doing what you want them to do. Using damage images actually cause heightened denial and less preparedness. People remember visual messages far better than verbal ones – so show what to do, not what can happen if they don’t do what you suggest they do.
• Foster conversation. The more people talk about disaster preparations – at home, at work, at school, and in the community – the more likely they will prepare.
• Apply, rinse, and repeat - just like the label on a shampoo bottle, disaster preparedness needs to be repeatedly in multiple settings over time.

Examples of excellently developed materials that incorporate these important risk communication techniques which you can use now, during Disaster Preparedness Month, and onward include:

• The Get Ready with Freddie!
  Program, developed by the Home Safety Council with Weekly Reader. As part of its major initiative in support of National Disaster Preparedness Month, HSC is offering members of the Expert Network multiple copies of this valuable educational program. Ultimately, the Program will reach 13 million teachers, students and their families. This Program explains simple, practical, “do-able” activities for children and families to engage in being prepared.
• Home Safety Literacy Project
  materials developed by the Home Safety Council are still available. These easy-to-read home safety education materials are needed in every community. More than 93 million adults in the U.S. have low reading ability, a serious barrier to learning necessary home fire safety skills and to understanding and applying key fire protection and disaster preparedness measures in the home.

For more information and materials that can help you help others prepare for disasters, visit the Home Safety Council’s “Resource Center”. The materials referenced above are available for order in hard copy and are also downloadable. They include print, visual, DVD, posters, and other resources to make it simple to reach those who are often most affected by disasters in your area. Get yours today!

* References:

“The Aftershock of Katrina and Rita: Public Not Moved to Prepare” Council for Excellence in Government and American Red Cross, Washington, DC, December, 2005.
http://www.excelgov.org/index.php?keyword=a432949724f861

Are We Ready? Council for Excellence in Government, Washington, DC, December 14, 2006, 27pp.
http://www.whatsyourrq.org/national_results.html