Emergency and Risk Communication
- Overview
- CDC Responds
- State Programs
- ERC Training
- Emergency Risk Communication (CD-ROM Excerpts)
CDCynergy: Emergency Risk Communication (CD-ROM Excerpts)
Feature Excerpt 1
What is Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication?
Crisis and emergency risk communication is the attempt by science or public health professionals to provide information that allows an individual, stakeholders, or an entire community to make the best possible decisions during a crisis emergency about their well being. Often this communication must be done within nearly impossible time constraints and requires public acceptance of the imperfect nature of the available choices for action. Successful crisis and emergency risk communication is achieved through the skillful use of risk communication theory and techniques.
Why Emergency Risk Communication?
Barbara S. Reynolds
CDC Crisis Communication Expert
Crisis communication, as it's normally defined, and risk communication as it's normally accepted, doesn't fit entirely the situation we trying to deal with, that emergency, that urgent situation where people have to make up their mind. So what we've done is actually broken some ground, according to the academics that we've been talking to on this subject. We have created an actual new area of study for communication called Emergency Risk Communication. And that combines some of the crisis elements and some of the risk elements but puts in within the context of an urgent situation.
Plan for the Unexpected
Kevin Teale
Communications Director
Iowa Department of Health
A lot of folks seem to think a crisis isn't going to happen to them and when it does happen, they don't have any plan in place to deal with it. So it's important that you put a plan together, even if the likelihood of something happening to you seems rather remote. If you have something put down, so that when the unexpected happens, you can go to that plan and react appropriately.
Plan Before the Crisis Occurs
Vicki Freimuth, Ph.D.
Associate Director, CDC Office of Communication
The pre-event Phase is, in many ways, the most important phase. Every day that you spend preparing, is in investment in successful communication later on. This phase is your opportunity to plan ahead by taking several steps to ensure your organization has the ability to communicate effectively during a crisis. You will need to consider several factors as you prepare: what functions you are going to need in an emergency, what resources you have, and who your partners and stakeholders are. Even though we usually focus on getting the message out, equally important, is to listen to our audiences. We can then be much more responsive to their needs for information. Remember the planning that you put into this phase will pay off should an event occur.
Above are excerpts taken from CDC's recently produced CDCynergy CD-ROM on emergency risk communication. The CD ROM provides a selection of risk communication writings and advice from nationally recognized risk communication experts.