EMG206: Critical Analysis of Disaster Response

Communication systems

As stated above, without adequate and effective communications, no emergency management organisation is likely to function effectively. In emergency management terms, four particularly important considerations apply to communications systems:

they must provide adequate facilities for the normal day to day function of an organisation;
they must be capable of extending from the day to day role into the wider and more demanding function of emergency response operations;
they must, when necessary, provide a mobile capability;
they must have adequate reserve or back-up capacity to meet emergency demands.

Sometimes, because of financial and other constraints, it is not possible to provide a special communications facility to fulfil the above needs. This means that you may have to utilise available networks (e.g. existing police day to day networks). Existing commercial broadcasting systems are also invaluable in the dissemination of emergency/disaster related information due to their ability to provide a 24 hour service, as well as providing a large area of coverage, especially in geographically remote areas.

Having now identified whether or not specific communication plans, procedures and arrangements were in place or not - you need to now identify what physical systems were available, the function(s) of these systems and who was responsible for them (maintenance, activation, etc.).

Activity 3.5

learning portfolio activity Draw up a list of all the various communication systems/mediums that you can think of.

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Did your list include some of the following systems:

emergency/standby communication systems;
warning systems, including provision of warning and information to the general public;
a system for activating organisations (response);
emergency operations centres;
system for damage and assessment needs;
system to manage emergency relief arrangements;
monitoring systems.

Also, in listing your various communication mediums you should consider:

television
telephone (landline, mobile, satellite)
radio
newspapers
public education programmes
facsimile
telex
internet
spatial information systems (GIS etc.)
etc. etc.

Refer to your assignment requirements and the marking criteria, looking at your selected event, answer the following question.

Activity 3.6

learning portfolio activity

What systems were in place during the pre-impact phase of your selected emergency/disaster and who was responsible for them?

Use the Activity 3.6 table in the data document provided previously (Topic 2) that you have saved to your hard drive to document your findings. Once you have done that save it for future reference.

The second part of this section that you will need to consider is the vulnerability of the various communication systems to the hazards created by your selected emergency/disaster event. These hazards should have been identified in the hazard analysis or risk assessment, undertaken as part of the process in developing the community emergency management and communications plans. If they were not, it is important that you record this as it will provide you with some conclusions and recommendations in your final topic for this subject.

An example of this would be analysing the siting of Emergency Operations Centres. Were they located in a safe environment, in the event of flooding, high winds etc?

Activity 3.7

learning portfolio activity Textbook: Auf der Heide, E. Disaster response - Principles of preparation and coordination, pp.91-102.”

Where possible - drawing on your own experiences and using the above text, list some of the communication technical problems that you have encountered in emergencies/disasters. If you have not personally encountered any emergency communications technical problems, what are some of the problems that you think might occur?

Use the Activity 3.7 table in the data document provided previously that you have saved to your hard drive to document your findings. Once you have done that save it for future reference.

Factors affecting communication systems

There are a number of factors that will affect communication systems; all of them can to varying degrees be catered for during the preparation and planning phase. Some of these factors are:

failure of all or part of the system;
inter-agency operability/interface;
frequency sharing arrangements.

You may recall that Erik Auf der Heide spoke of these problems in Chapter 5 of the textbook. If you are having trouble recollecting this section, take the time to re-read it now.

Activity 3.8

learning portfolio activity Now review the list that you drew up that identifies the various communications systems that were in place during the pre-impact phase of your selected event.

Can you provide any evidence of the vulnerability of these systems to the hazards and risks presented by your selected emergency/disaster?

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Based on my own experiences some of the major problems I have encountered are:

radio equipment and frequency incompatibility between agencies;
absence of back up systems/equipment/power sources in the event of failure of primary systems/equipment;
over use of mobile telephones in emergency situations, thus creating a problem in dissemination/collection of information due to saturation of the network
reliance on mobile telephone communications in areas where coverage is minimal.

Your list is probably quite extensive but I have just provided a few to highlight some of the potential problems emergency managers may be faced with.

Activity 3.9

learning portfolio activity

Using the list of problems that you have developed interrogate the communication arrangements that were in place prior to your event.

For example, did the incompatibility of radio equipment and/or frequencies used by the statutory emergency services create problems in information management/dissemination which may have contributed to the lack of a optimum level of preparedness by the emergency services?

Add the following problems to the Activity 3.7 table in the data document if you have not already identified them and complete the Activity 3.9 section of the table, saving it for reference when compiling your final report (Assignment 2).

If some of your problems are answered with a 'no problems', mention this in your report as it is important that you not only highlight problems, but also give credit to things that did work well during emergency/disaster events.

Communication system problems

radio equipment and frequency incompatibility between agencies;

absence of back up systems/equipment/power sources in the event of failure of primary systems/equipment;

over use of mobile telephones in emergency situations, thus creating a problem in dissemination/collection of information due to saturation of the network;

reliance on mobile telephone communications in areas where coverage is minimal.

Use the Activity 3.9 table in the data document provided previously that you have saved to your hard drive to document your findings. Once you have done that save it for future reference.

Remember that this information will be extremely important for your assignment in the final topic of this subject, in which you will be required to provide a set of conclusions and recommendations based on the discussion and evidence you provide throughout your assignment.

Having looked at communications planning and communications systems (technical) we need to now look at the other aspect of communications - the 'people' side of communications.

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