One would think most if not all Hawaii residents would know by now that earthquakes are basically unpredictable and would have recognized yesterday’s “prediction” of a 9.0 quake for the hoax it was.
Didn't happen. Hundreds or maybe thousands of island residents reacted to the rumor with panic gas buying and by calling the police, civil defense, newspapers, TV stations and even the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, where a staffer said he was “unable to get any work done” because of the calls, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Note to the PTWC: Please ignore the crank calls and tend to your important work.)
Civil Defense officials now have “public education” on their to-do list, in addition to all the other fixes that earthquake-related events have suggested over the past six weeks.
The challenge is huge. First there’s the near-term requirement to squelch rumors in the early stages with messages to the public over radio and television outlets. The newspapers mention "crawls" over television programming but nothing about radio announcements; a series of "crawls" on television hardly seems adequate.
Reaching the Masses
When that promised public meeting eventually is held to discuss all these emergency communications issues, it will be worth asking Civil Defense whether it used radio stations yesterday. Did officials go on radio air repeatedly to knock down the rumor? Was there even staff available at the designated emergency broadcast station (KSSK) on Sunday night to take their calls?
Long-term education probably begins in grade school. Tilly Smith, a 10-year-old English schoolgirl, saved about 100 people from near-certain death at a Thai resort on December 26, 2004 by putting her geography lessons to work when she saw the water recede. Her awareness saved them from the tsunami.
It would be good to know much instruction Hawaii school kids receive on earthquakes and tsunamis. If they do cover these subjects, their parents should help them with their homework.
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I'd sure like to know how that got started! I find it amazing how many people in an earthquake prone area would believe something like that. Wow, I mean, damn I live in Texas where we don't even have earthquakes and I've known since I was a kid that you can't predict earthquakes! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, coreburn. Glad to hear folks in Texas are earthquake savvy, but don't some of you try to kiss rattlesnakes? That's something we wouldn't try here -- probably only because we don't have snakes. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping this keeps the public eye on emergency response and preparedness. It is definitely an area that can benefit from greater scrutiny by "customers." Mahalo, Mr. Carlson, for your efforts in that department.
ReplyDeleteIt may also be worth noting that it is difficult to keep up with the latest in remote sensing and mathematical modelling techniques, both of which are used in seismology and other areas of disaster planning and response. The responsibility of creating an informed constituency is shared by professionals and citizens.
Thank you, erikrau, for checking in. You sound like you have insights to offer, so please do so with additional comments whenever you like.
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