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Absorb the changes that disruptive events bring – evolve into better capabilities with a wiser outlook

–      With recovery, adaptation, continuity and renewed dimensions

Recovery moves the organization back to the pre-event condition

Organizational adaptation is required for the continuity of the system and is essential in the new conditions surrounding the organization faces with an external threat

Renewed dimensions - - organizational members need to recover from a traumatic situation and go back at least to the pre-event condition both in the physical and mental sense

Resilience encompasses more than just bouncing back, in some circumstances resilience may result in a renewed organization that is entirely distinct when compared to the pre-event state

Competitiveness – is being able to continue past, recover and learn from and, where appropriate, capitalize upon the opportunities presented by the disruption

Coherence – is aligning operational resilience measures with strategic resilience objectives,  the side by-side, top-to-bottom, allows organizational silos to become more integrated and interoperable

Efficiency and effectiveness – is working within a coherent and integrated framework has time and cost-saving implications, importance to mesh together diverse components, allocating resources to improve overall resilience

Reputation – is the coherent framework supports the organization in understanding and acting on the interdependency of brand, trust and reputation, therefore managing and enhancing its reputation

Societal/community resilience – give assurance to interested parties, regulators, third parties, government, customers, key stakeholders, partners and shareholders

Social Media: Emergency Communications’ Best Ally

During the Oso, Wash., mudslide, Snohomish County used social media extensively to keep the public apprised of ongoing developments and breaking news

The Peace of Mind of Being Prepared

Putting an effective social media strategy in place before disaster strikes is critical to emergency preparedness.  This free guide will teach you:

• Six essential components of a strong social media strategy for emergencies
• Lessons learned by government communicators during the Oso, WA mudslide
• Additional considerations for public agencies  using social media

Source: Center for Digital Government

Click here to view Social Media: Emergency Communications’ Best Ally

A study finds that social media lets campus authorities instantly reach a large percentage of students, who are more likely to comply with emergency notifications received in that manner.

The widespread popularity of social media and associated mobile apps, especially among young people, has potential in public safety, a new study finds.

Use of such sites as Facebook and Twitter has become so significant that universities should strongly consider utilizing them to spread information during campus emergencies, according to a study from the University at Buffalo School of Management called Factors impacting the adoption of social network sites for emergency notification purposes in universities.

Social media not only enables campus authorities to instantly reach a large percentage of students to provide timely and accurate information during crisis situations, the study states, but sending messages through social networking channels also means students are more likely to comply with emergency notifications received.

“Social media is especially useful to confirm information students received through other channels, provide additional updates and respond to student feedback,” said Wencui Han, lead study author and a Ph.D. student in the University at Buffalo School of Management. “Social media also allows two-way communication. Campus officials can respond to concerns and provide more detailed instructions, and users can add and share content, helping information spread more rapidly.”

The study recommends that universities not currently using social media for emergency notification about such things as criminal incidents, natural disasters or health-related crises strongly consider adding social media as an additional means of communicating with students.

“Our suggestion is that they use social media as a complementary channel for traditional notification so students can have interaction and clarification on those channels,” said Han. “Using a wide range of notification technologies can help keep students safer during a crisis.”

The researchers also surveyed campus safety managers from 183 universities that do not yet have social networking accounts in place for emergency situations, and found that campuses with higher incident rates were more likely to consider adopting social-networking services for emergency-notification purposes.

The study also found some limitations to getting universities to engage with students via social media. 

“There are still a lot of schools out there that are concerned about putting information out on social media,” said Han. “But because social media has become such a big part of young people’s lives and communications, we really encourage schools to consider it.”

The authors note that the most popular social media sites are free to use, making it cost effective for universities to build pages across multiple social channels -- though they should expect potential costs for marketing and monitoring activity.

“Interacting with students on social media imposes a cost in terms of devoting critical manpower,” said co-author Raj Sharman, Ph.D., associate professor of management science and systems in the School of Management. “But if universities develop strategies for managing various social platforms for different types of incidents, they can better prepare students during emergencies.”

The researchers also caution that users may post misleading information, or students may not subscribe to certain channels. As such, they recommend universities continue to deploy traditional methods as their primary notification system and use social media to provide supplemental information.

Source: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Social-Media-Communication-Campus-Emergencies.html

Public health officials work to ensure that the lessons of Ebola are not forgotten

Hospitals find it difficult to remain fully prepared for disease outbreaks because they rarely occur and preparation and frequent training are expensive. Public health professionals and infectious disease experts are working to ensure that lessons learned and protocols put in place in response to the Ebola outbreak will be used to prevent and respond to future virus and disease outbreaks.

Public health professionals and infectious disease experts are working to ensure that lessons learned and protocols put in place in response to the Ebola outbreak will be used to prevent and respond to future virus and disease outbreaks. "The mantra is, ‘Don’t be the next Dallas,’” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases for the University of Utah health system. The Los Angeles Times notes that hospitals strive for a balance between preparation and overreaction when planning for the possibility of an outbreak or a deadly virus like Ebola, the flu, or a less popular infectious disease. "You have to walk that fine line between an event happening and not saying the sky is falling all the time,” said Dr. Katie Passaretti, head of infection prevention at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where one of the first suspected U.S. Ebola cases was tested.

Many hospital executives admit that their staff were ill-prepared for an Ebola patient when the virus first arrived in the United States via Liberian national, Thomas Eric Duncan. An October survey by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) found that only 6 percent of hospitals said they were "well-prepared” for an Ebola patient. 51 percent of the survey respondents said their hospitals had one or no full-time infection control expert on staff. The mistakes made at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Duncan was first misdiagnosed and later returned only to die of Ebola, could have occurred at any hospital, according to healthcare professionals. "There was 99.9 percent no planning for this one,” said Dr. Lisa Brosseau, who studies occupational health at the University of Illinois. "I think we are still pretty much playing catch-up.”

Hospitals find it difficult to remain fully prepared for disease outbreaks because they rarely occur and preparation and frequent training are expensive. Additionally, the lessons and difficulties of previous outbreaks tend to be forgotten. "The level of activity that’s required to be a fully prepared hospital is pretty extraordinary,” said Dr. Eric Toner, who studies medical preparedness during outbreaks at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Health Security. "If there’s not a comparable epidemic in another decade or so, a lot of the progress we’ve made will be lost.”

Source: Homeland Security News Wire Tuesday 25 November 2014 vol. 8 no. 273