Skip to main content

“Media and Emergency Response” To Be Focus Of Honolulu Community Media Council Panel

The Honolulu Community Media Council has scheduled a lunch meeting on February 27 open to the public that will feature a panel discussion on “Media and Emergency Response.”

The event will begin at 11:30 in the hotel’s Carnation Room, followed by lunch and the program, which will conclude at 1:30. The lunch’s cost is $20; reservations can be made until February 23 by calling Veronica at 596-2121. (Tell her you read about the luncheon here at CHORE.)

HCMC president Chris Conybeare said the panel will examine the difficulties experienced by government and the media on October 15th after two strong earthquakes rattled the state and prompted a major power outage on Oahu. At one point, 70 percent of the state’s broadcast stations were off the air, which restricted the flow of emergency information to the public.

Conybeare said the panel also will discuss measures taken since Earthquake Sunday to strengthen media operations and improve the chain of emergency communications from State Civil Defense and other authorities to the public.

Panelists confirmed as participants include Mark Platte, editor of The Honolulu Advertiser; Chuck Cotton, vice president and general manager of seven Honolulu radio stations owned by Clear Channel; Michael Titterton, general manager of Hawaii Public Radio; Marsha Weinert, the State Administration’s liaison to the visitor industry and co-chair of the Comprehensive Communications Review Committee that proposed communications improvements after the October 15th earthquakes, and CHORE's writer.

State Civil Defense has been invited to send a representative and participate in the panel discussion.

Disaster Preparedness Hearings

Elsewhere, legislative hearings have begun on improving disaster preparedness. HB 1006 was the focus this afternoon; it proposes establishing the Office of the Director of Disaster Preparedness and a Disaster Preparedness Commission to develop a disaster preparedness plan for Hawaii that includes the identification of hazards and hazard impact zones; disaster mitigation policies, requirements, and incentives; and best responses. The intent seems to be to impose an additional level of oversight above State Civil Defense to improve responsiveness over what was experienced in October.

If the daily papers fail to cover this bill's provisions, we’ll summarize them later.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Once a Hurricane, Tropical Depression Cosme Provides Incentive to Stock Up on Batteries

CHORE has really let it slide this summer. We’re average only one post a month during hurricane season, a tipoff we’ve pretty much moved on and beyond the communications failures during and after Earthquake Sunday. Trouble is, so has everyone else, and there’s been virtually zero follow-up by the news media in recent months on how or whether October’s communications deficiencies have been corrected. We may not have the answers to all the questions that have been posted here at CHORE until the next emergency, which is not a comforting feeling. If all the radio and TV stations stay on the air during the next major power outage, we’ll know the stations’ staffs have done a responsible job in fixing their problems. If they go to dead air, we’ll be the losers then and there. COSME Comes Calling Tropical Depression Cosme, a one-day hurricane earlier this week, has winds estimated at 30 knots this afternoon that could strengthen to minimal tropical storm intensity as it approaches the Hawa

MISSION: To Ensure the Lahaina Fire Tragedy Will Be the Last Time Hawaii Emergency Management so Poorly Serves the Public

The cause of the August 2023 wildfire that destroyed Lahaina, Maui and killed at least 101 residents is still unknown at this writing. What was immediately obvious was the absence of any effective alert to the public. Authorities failed to activate the so-called "tsunami warning" siren system, even though it could have at least alerted residents to their peril. Many survivors angrily complained they received no warning whatsoever. Emergency communications planners must stay abreast of best practices in their field, just like doctors, scientists, professionals, and experts in all disciplines. Had officials within the Maui Emergency Management Agency implemented the lessons learned after California's major wildfires in the past decade, they would have been prepared to meaningfully respond to the wildfire's threat to Lahaina, CHORE and a companion website -- WildfireCrisis.com (loads slowly at the Internet's Wayback Machine archive ) -- have advocated major reforms

More than 100 Died in Lahaina Fire after Maui's Crisis Communications Plan Failed

This blog has promoted emergency communication reform since its first post on October 17, 2006. The evidence that reform is desperately needed builds with each wildfire tragedy, and the Lahaina, Maui fire during August 8-9 is the latest.   A continuing theme here at CHORE: W arning messages intended for a mass audience require a mass medium. No wildfire can outrun a radio broadcast. Radio is the fastest and most accessible mass medium for life-saving messages to the masses. Cell phone networks and other channels are nice to have, but they’re no substitute for fast-as-lightning AM radio, which rarely if ever fails during a wildfire. This isn’t rocket science, but as we’ve learned repeatedly in the past decade, far too many communications planners just don’t get it.    A Journalist Reports   A retired journalist who was vacationing on Maui has provided compelling validation of this blog’s promotion of AM radio as a key component of public agencies’ emergency communications plans.   Katy