Emergency Communication and Preparedness: Lessons to Learn From COVID-19 to Prepare For the Future

The COVID-19 pandemic proved the need for emergency preparedness and effective communication to anticipate crisis on any level, as I said with Kevin Osman in an iHeart radio interview on Emergency Communication, “A clear, consistent messaging is essential”.  For instance, saying “Don’t touch your face” isn’t clear enough on the why, the how, and the who. Thus, instructing people not to touch their faces should include specifics and parameters for the message to reach out efficiently to its targets.

Learning from Past Disasters: The Lack of Emergency Preparedness

We had tons of examples to learn from, yet, despite numerous past disasters, including wildfires, floods, cyclones, and many pandemics like Hong Kong flu, SARS, swine flu, and MERS, many individuals and organizations remain unprepared for emergencies. This lack of preparedness extends to personal, corporate, and public levels, highlighting a need for better planning and resource allocation. Now, we do have the “72-hour kit” that NBC, Burnaby, and other public entities have put out. We also have the document called “26 Steps to Preparedness.” However, as individuals, we weren’t prepared for COVID-19. The collective apartment buildings, business offices, office towers, and bank buildings didn’t know a thing about what to do.

Strengthening Emergency Preparedness: Leadership, Resource Management, and Anticipation

As we navigate any emergency, like during the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a growing expectation for leaders to ensure better preparedness and resource management. It may include stockpiling necessary supplies and improving procurement processes to avoid reliance on just-in-time delivery systems, which can fail during crises. On top of everything, there’s an expectation to anticipate. 

For instance, 40,000 North Americans between 40 and 70 die every year from regular flu. If this regular flu and food poisoning (often mistaken for each other) were attacked in hospitals, elderly facilities, and in our homes and restaurants with cleanliness, it would have been a surrogate or proxy issue for preventing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Key for Clear Messaging in Emergencies

When the emergency presents itself, clear messaging is a must! So, when you want your children and loved ones to drive safely, you don’t only say “Drive safely” once. Every time there’s a storm, you say “Don’t go on that highway in this weather”, “Don’t load up the car”, “Keep your window down a crack”, “Both hands on the wheel”, etc. Then why wouldn’t we apply that to corporate life or public administration? 

For that, we need to be clear in our messaging: 

1. We have the message: “Do not touch your face with your fingertips.”
2. But we need to tell them why they shouldn’t touch their face: “Because you may have touched a surface or come in contact with the virus. Then, it will get into your body through your mouth, your nose, your ears or your eyes.”
3. After that, we cite people who advocate this precaution, and not just the head of government. Because the public we target needs to know that we’re keeping with the World Health Organization, the Red Cross, the mayor, the emergency preparedness manager, etc.
4. Next, we need to keep delivering that message by taking it into our personal lives.

Building a Resilient Future

Looking ahead, there’s hope that the lessons learned from COVID-19 will lead to a more prepared and resilient society, like after World War 2. By reorganizing the nature of work (work to home meaning less pollution, less stress), and reorganizing just-in-time delivery and supply chain, we can create a safer, more efficient future. However, emergency communication and preparedness are just another tool in our toolbox. We can even take, for example, Auckland and Albuquerque that were a reference in emergency plan.
To listen to the full live interview with Kevin Osman, click here.