Proposed Civil Defense Briefing Would Help Public Evaluate Communications Readiness

• November 9th Update: This is the 16th consecutive day without media coverage of the state's Comprehensive Communications Review Committee, which began meeting on October 24th.
• See CHORE’S first post to read our Mission and Objective statements.

CHORE believes transparency about Civil Defense preparedness is appropriate in light of the post-earthquake communications glitches we all experienced. We're therefore posting a letter sent two days ago to State Civil Defense urging the agency to conduct a public briefing on lessons learned and proposed changes that will enhance community awareness and safety in future emergencies.

Mr. Edward T. Teixeira
Vice Director of Civil Defense
Hawaii State Civil Defense
3949 Diamond Head Road
Honolulu HI 96816-4495

Dear Ed:

My ongoing interest in emergency communications prompted me to start a web log called “Citizens Helping Officials Respond to Emergencies” (CHORE) after the October 15th earthquakes. The blog has been a convenient location to record observations, ask questions and make recommendations that have occurred to other commentators and me.

One of the recommendations is for State Civil Defense to hold a public briefing on your agency’s response to the earthquakes and any lessons learned that might result in improvements. Hawaiian Electric Company conducted such a briefing two weeks ago that appeared to be well received by the public.

Many people have said they feel government and the broadcast industry can do a better job in communicating critical information to the public during and after a crisis. I’m confident the public would welcome a detailed briefing by the Civil Defense agencies to help restore our sense of security, which was badly shaken by the events of October 15th. We’ve had an uneventful hurricane season this year, but we all know how daunting the communications challenges would be if a major storm were to strike Oahu.

I look forward to hearing from you, Ed, and hope to join you in a dialogue with the community on improving emergency communications to help keep our citizens informed.

Aloha,

Doug Carlson