Emergency Information Is a Tweet Away

In the wake of this week’s earthquake and with Hurricane Irene barreling toward the Maryland coastline, government offices are on high alert to get information out to the public.

Armed with social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, Maryland and Howard County officials are reaching out to people like never before while also sticking to traditional methods for getting their messages out.

Edward McDonough, spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), said that each county has its own formula for getting out information to the public.

Meanwhile, MEMA has its own Facebook page along with a news feed on its website and a Twitter account with nearly 2,000 followers.

One of most recent agency Tweets announced that Gov. Martin O’Malley declared the hurricane conditions a state of emergency.

“We’re certainly trying to integrate more of the newer technology, but we also want to recognize our vulnerable populations,” McDonough said. “We are trying to reach the broadest range possible with the most methods possible.”

He added that if there is one thing that the agency learned from the earthquake, it’s not to rely on cell phone use.

“We had a devil of a time to trying to contact people because of the cell phone blockage,” McDonough said. He advised people limit cellular calls in emergency situations.

“Call a relative on the landline…The cell phone system in this country is not robust enough to handle that kind of traffic…We urge people to shorten up their conversations until the disaster is past enough for the cell phone use to keep up with call levels.”

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman echoed those sentiments.

“The earthquake did reinforce the need to be prepared for a world without cell phones,” Ulman said. “What we learned is that you need to be constantly pumping out information, especially when people are cooped up in their homes and they can’t communicate via certain mechanisms.”

At the national level, FEMA has been posting Internet video updates on Hurricane Irene, while the National Weather Service has put together weather podcasts. 

As for what residents are tuning into for their emergency information, it seems to run the gamut from the Internet to word of mouth.  

“After the earthquake, I immediately looked at my phone and pulled up the web browser and looked at the local news,” said Emily Mawhinney, an Ellicott City resident. “I also looked on Facebook, which almost had more information faster than the news could report it.”

Stephanie McGowan, 19, of Marriotsville, also went on Facebook in the earthquake’s immediate aftermath. 

“I went on Facebook right away and then I went on AOL.com, and I found a Wikipedia link about it already.”

Columbia resident Mark Harris stuck to more traditional routes. “I turn on the TV,” Harris said.

Cindy McGowan found out about the earthquake with the help of a text message from UMBC, where she works.

For Marko Bulmer, UMBC associate professor and expert on natural disaster and emergency management, Tuesday’s earthquake was a lesson for the East Coast.

Bulmer, who has been in earthquakes much bigger than Tuesday’s mid-Atlantic event, said he felt that UMBC responded appropriately to the incident.

Many of the college staff was assembled for a retreat, and college President Freeman A. Hrabowski was speaking when the earth started to shake. It didn’t take long for university staff to clear the building and for the campus emergency response plan to go into effect. Students and staff received an emergency alert text message to leave buildings on campus.

Since there were no reported injuries and minimal damage, the conversation shifted to what could have been done differently on a college campus if the event had been more serious.

“An emergency plan is worth finding again in the desk drawer and is worth having a look at again,” he said.

Bulmer, who has traveled across the world studying earthquakes and how communities respond to their aftermath, said there are a few things to keep in mind when considering an emergency response plan for a company, organization or a family.

• First, it is important for people who are decision makers in an organization to be able to communicate with one another.
• Second, people need to know where safe areas are and how to get to them.
• When a disaster or event hits, people may flood officials with questions, bogging down the lines of communication. While it may be hard to admit, Bulmer cautions that some people don’t need information immediately about a friend or family member. “You should give a little bit of thought as to how immediately you need that information,” he said.
• For a family, choose a point person to get in touch with everyone and communicate that everyone is safe. For other organizations, it’s important only to distribute relevant information once it is known to be fact. There may be a delay, Bulmer said, but it’s more important to distribute accurate information, he said.

Catonsville Patch editor Penny Riordan contributed to this report.