EMERGENCY PUBLIC INFORMATION
"Let Your Fingers Do the Walking Through the Emergency Pages"

SCENARIO:  Winter Storm (Hurricane) etc.  Major power outage over a wide
area, hundreds of thousands of people without power, power is projected
to be out for 5-10 days.  Now, what do you do Emergency Manager?

Use the EAS, Quick!!  Whoops!  The Emergency Alert Station can broadcast
on emergency power, but because of the power outage, no one can receive
the information.  OK! Now, Emergency Manager, what are you going to do?

This scenario has been repeated numerous times in the past few years.
Hurricanes and severe weather have disrupted power in the Southeast;
winter storms have paralyzed the Northeast and Canada.  El Nino has
devastated parts of the west coast; power surges have rippled through
regional power grids.  With all of these instances of major and extended
power failures, we, Emergency Managers, continue to rely heavily on
electronic means to provide emergency public information.  A great deal
of time, money, and effort has been put into developing emergency
information to provide this important information to the public in the
event of an emergency.  The problem is how to get this vital information
to the public and in a form that will be readily available when it is
needed.

Local Emergency Managers provide many different types of public
emergency information regarding threats to the local community.  A few
communities publish hurricane tracking maps and other emergency
information as a newspaper supplement.  However, this supplement,
usually printed on newsprint paper will, on average, last only until the
next house cleaning.  A few nuclear power facilities publish calendars
with all of the evacuation, sheltering, and other information on an
annual basis, and even though they are professionally produced, most
homes do not use them as their primary kitchen calendar.  Other
industries, such as chemical producers, also use various methods like
flyers, pamphlets, and posters, for informing the public as part of
their preparation efforts.  Much of this information is retained for
only a short period of time because people continue to be deluged by
other "junk mail."

Emergency Managers use innovative ways to get emergency information out
to the public in a timely fashion.  We rely on radio and television
broadcasts for emergency and public service information distribution.
As electronic information technology matures, more ways become available
to reach the public.  We use the new and improved Emergency Alert System
and, we have programmed facsimile machines to quickly distribute
information to our various media sources.  A few communities have
extensive indoor warning capabilities using the NOAA Weather Radios and
other commercial systems.  Additionally, more progressive Emergency
Managers have mastered the Internet and the World Wide Web and have
developed outstanding web sites, (I am jealous).  But after all of this
effort, we rely almost exclusively on the public's access to
electric-powered appliances to receive emergency information at the time
of an event.

The remaining problem, however, is without electric power, we are
extremely limited how we can distribute the necessary emergency public
information in a timely manner.  But wait you say, many of our home or
office radios have battery back up systems, so there should be no
problem!  Second But!  Most of these radios or boom boxes are very
complex systems with radio, cassette, and compact disk playing systems
in one container.  They eat batteries by the dozen!  The battery life on
these radios is 8-12 hours at the most--providing the batteries are
fresh (forget the Energizer Bunny).  Due to the ecology effort, many of
us have gone to rechargeable batteries that are good for the
environment, but you cannot recharge batteries during a power outage.
Many desk- top personal computers do not have battery support to allow
the user to access the Internet, and portable laptop and notebook
computer batteries last only for 4-8 hours.  So the problem is still not
solved for an extended power outage!

BUT, if you were to ask any resident where the telephone book is located
in their home or office, they could tell you exactly where it is and can
probably find it even in the dark.  Telephone books are located in
motels and hotels where tourists can find them as well as  in offices,
schools, and businesses.  Now, with the growing popularity of cellular
telephones, many people have them in their cars.

Telephone books do not generally get tossed with the trash, many homes
have the last several years editions--just in case.  Also, newcomers to
the community, both residential and business, get at least one new
telephone book as soon as they move in.   So why not take full advantage
of this method of insuring the majority of your community's permanent
and temporary population have direct access to emergency information all
of the time?  If your community is a tourist location, this is critical
to insure the temporary population can safely follow the local emergency
instructions as well as the permanent residents.

My thesis for this paper is to recommend a nationwide program; supported
by national emergency and disaster services agencies such as the Federal
Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross along with
telephone book publishers to place local emergency management
information in all telephone books at no cost as a public service.  This
information would be locally developed and approved, but placed in all
telephone books, nationwide, in the same place (front, middle, or
back--White, Pink, or Blue pages), no matter which company publishes the
book.  A telephone book
can and should become the standardized location for general and specific
local emergency information.  No matter where a person lives, or
travels, they would know that in the event of a major emergency, the
information for evacuation, for shelter, and for emergency services
would be found in any local telephone book, in a standardized place.

During disasters or major power outages, basic emergency information is
needed, quickly and succinctly.  The public needs to know how and when
to go to a shelter, how and when to evacuate, what do when the
electricity or gas is off, and some basic first aid reminders.  Some
communities have basic, generic information already provided by the
telephone book publisher, however it is rarely specific for the local
community unless it has been purchased separately by a private company.
This information is usually found in different places throughout the
various telephone books from community to community, if it is published
at all.

The local Emergency Manager should looks a what general and specific
emergency public information is germane to their location.  Utility
information for gas and electric connections should fit the types of
products in that specific location.  Some general information that is
currently being published may be too generic, or may fit newer versus
older products.  Information on hurricane and storm surges is not
necessary in the Midwest states.  Earthquake information may not be
necessary for communities with no
fault activity, either active or dormant.  Flood information may not be
needed where there are no rivers or major bodies of water and volcano
information may only be needed on the West Coast.  Hazardous material
information should address specific local hazard risks as well as
general instructions for communities near Interstate highways or major
railroad lines where large quantities of hazardous products could pose a
risk.

In addition, the telephone book provides the public with more than one
sensory product to assist them during an emergency.  Have you ever
listened to the drone of repeated Emergency Alert System Messages?  Have
you ever tried to follow the instructions given for a wide area, while
trying to find road signs or blue hurricane evacuation route markers, in
a heavy rain with a blowing wind and flying debris?  It is not a pretty
sight!  Also, if your community supports a large tourist or temporary
population, they may not be as familiar with the transportation system
of the community, as well as their risk in relationship to their
location, such as storm surge areas along the beaches or coastal
evacuation routes.  But, if the person can listen to the general
instructions and can follow information on pages in the telephone book,
there is a greater probability that the information will be understood,
retained, and followed during periods of high stress.

Instructions should be general, in the form of reminders, not
reproducing all of the FEMA and Red Cross manuals.  People should be
able to use the information in the telephone book to supplement
information that is routinely distributed during severe weather season,
winter weather season, fire season, flood season, etc.  The telephone
book information should supplement other information or be used when
routine information systems are off-line, as in the case of power
failures.  In order for this to work more effectively, information
should be coordinated with local radio and television stations who can
broadcast on emergency power to provide emergency information at
specific times-on the hour, quarter hour, or half hour, so that the
public can use an alternate method of receiving this information by
turning on their automobile radio only at times of the specific
emergency broadcast.  Information should also supplement general
information such as showing the county locations of the major
metropolitan areas since the National Weather Service sends out alerts
naming risk counties and may not associate the cities or municipalities
within those risk counties.  This is very important to the transient
population that may know the city they are visiting, but may not know
the respective county the emergency information is targeted.

The telephone book is a valuable, readily available resource today.
Telephone books are published en masse and are widely distributed to
homes, businesses, public areas, and are in our automobiles.  Emergency
public information needs to be placed, without cost, in all telephone
books, nationwide.  This is as much a public service as listing the
various cultural activities, sporting events, and other local
information currently found in many telephone books.  The use of the
telephone book for the location of local emergency public information is
one way to establish a national public safety standard that everyone can
recognize, similar to the national 911 system and can be a quality of
life issue, especially during and after a major, life threatening
disaster.  And, if a life is saved, and the community is served, it will
be well worth the effort of our investment of time and resources to
provide this service to the public.

In order to insure the success of this project, a partnership is needed
between national and state government agencies and private professional
organizations including;

     Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
     Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
     Department of Commerce (NOAA/NWS),
     Department of Transportation
     Department of Energy, US Army Corps of Engineers,
     Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Red Cross

along with professional organizations such as the;

      International Association of Emergency Managers
      National Emergency Management Association,
      National Association of Counties,
      National League of Cities,
      Emergency Preparedness-Canada,
      the SAFE GUARD Program in Canada,
      and State level emergency management organizations.

Professional organizations that support private industry include the
      Chemical Manufactures Association,
      the Institute for Business and Home Safety,
      and the nuclear, gas, and electric utilities.

This partnership will link the Emergency Management and Emergency
Preparedness communities with the respective telephone book publishers
to insure that emergency public information can be provided to the
public in an efficient and effective manner.  Once implemented
nationwide, and once the public becomes familiar with the service, it
will become part of our quality of life programs in our respective
communities as well as a tool that can save lives in emergency
situations.

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