Communications: The Key To Surviving a Disaster

Recent events have shown the need to have communications that allow police, fire, EMS, security and other agencies in the affected area be able to communicate effectively. How many times will we have disasters occur where we see the same problems pop up before we will do something to correct them?

In this day, where the electronic form of communication is so vital, we see little advanced effort to see that all emergency responders in a geographic area are able to communicate with one another in an emergency situation. We have drills that are, in my humble opinion, not realistic in simulating the disasters impact on the communications facilities that are available. Yet, in nearly every disaster that I can think of, communications, or the lack thereof, is the key ingredient in the failure of a proper response. I would propose that procedures be developed to see that everyone in the emergency response field be able to communicate with each other.

It seems to me that there should be careful consideration given to communications even at the expense of other aspects of response to disasters. For example, what good does it do to have ambulances, rescue helicopters, rescue teams, fire fighters or police officers if they can not be dispatched to areas where they are needed. There should be a plan that has been rehearsed in advance that would allow for the immediate implementation of an emergency communications plan.

I have tried for years to gain access to the cities emergency communications for the colleges and universities in our area. A separate channel for these institutions to speak directly to emergency services would allow the various emergency responders to have more timely responses to areas of our city that house, on a persons per square mile basis, a much higher than normal density of population. This fact makes these both a greater burden on the city in an emergency and a valuable resource in a time of crisis. Additional communications equipment, personnel and facilities might be available that otherwise would be overlooked and the personnel at these locations know their facilities best making it more efficient to have them assist in responding to their facilities.

A prime example of this is a case where a medical response was delayed to a serious condition because the caller was not with the victim. EMS dispatchers did what their protocol demanded. A call went out to the EMS crew with a routine response requested. Some 17 minutes after the initial call the crew rolled up in front of our school. They began to meander to the back of their rig to get their equipment and chit chatted about stuff going on in their lives. Meanwhile, a person who had had open heart surgery about three months earlier lay on the floor in a semi-conscious state. After being advised three times by a bystander that they thought the person was dying and it was possibly a heart attack did the EMS crew realize the seriousness of the call. They went with an emergency response to the hospital. If the security personnel on site had had direct access to a channel for such emergencies, it was discovered that the initial call would have warranted an emergency response. Where are we today? The city still does not have a way for school and university personnel to communicate by radio to the dispatchers. What would happen in a Columbine situation, fire or other medical emergency?

By paying attention to the details of a comprehensive communications plan we can eliminate much of the current problems we have in communicating in an emergency situation. These minor disasters can be multiplied several hundreds of times over in a wide spread disaster caused by earthquake, hurricane, tornado, flood or even a terrorist attack. Why not fix the problems that we know exist?