Christmas Gift List Has Crisis Orientation Following Real, Imagined Emergencies

We’ll soon see Christmas wish lists compiled by columnists and other journalists for the public figures they’ve covered all year.

CHORE has compiled our own short gift list in the aftermath of the recent earthquakes, power blackouts, tsunamis, rumors of tsunamis, hoaxes and other emergency communications-related events.

Santa should try to deliver some these goodies before Christmas Eve. The next earthquake, tsunami, blackout or hoax could happen any time.

Hawaii’s Crisis Gift List

For the public – a library of emergency-related books, including: “Earthquakes Are Not Predictable”, “Hoaxes and Other Irresponsible Behavior” and "You Can't Surf a Tsunami"; a battery-powered radio for each household.
Every radio and TV station – a generator enabling it to stay on the air during power blackouts; an emergency response training course for all personnel; more “live” and fewer canned programs to improve responsiveness, and a special gift for KSSK – a leather-bound edition of “A Crisis Is Never Entertainment”.
State Civil Defense – a stopwatch for measuring the Emergency Alert System’s response time in minutes, not hours; 149 new emergency sirens to cover the “gap areas”; a calendar to schedule the promised public briefing on improvements made since the October 15th earthquakes.
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center – a new standard operating procedure that bypasses other agencies to issue warnings directly to the public via the broadcast industry (see Tsunami Lessons blog for nearly two years of posts).
Hawaiian Electric Company – a complete set of “earthquake dampers” for its generators; a list of local radio stations' unpublished telephone numbers to call during blackouts.
The Comprehensive Communications Review Committee – a list of the media to invite to its meetings so Hawaii residents can know how public safety is being improved.
The news media – a double dose of curiosity about what the Comprehensive Communications Review Committee is doing (only one report’s been published on the committee's activities since it began meeting on October 17th).

And two more year-end remembrances....

Mother Nature – a gift basket with thanks for a calm hurricane season.
El Nino – an invitation to stick around for another year.