Crisis Communication Plan

1 Crisis Communications Plan Although designers and developers implement strategic measures to ensure cities and major towns are protected from disasters, catastrophic events still occur occasionally. These events have a direct impact on cities and inhabitants. Crisis in cities occur due to various factors including unavoidable circumstances such as natural phenomena, poor planning and poor mitigation (Sellnow & Seeger, 2021). Each crisis is unique. However, they all contribute to stress and affect the inhabitants’ coping mechanisms. Creating an emergency management team is a critical approach to mitigating city crises. The management team’s responsibilities include organizing and coordinating crisis management (Coombs, 2018). The team prepares and responds to catastrophic events. The effectiveness of this team is influenced by the communication mechanisms implemented. Coleman (2020) noted that whereas poor communication hinders response to crisis, effective communication mechanisms facilitate preparedness and response to disasters. This paper highlights a crisis communication plan for the fictional city of Bobsville, located in Oklahoma.

2 Purpose and Objectives The crisis communication plan contains guidelines and steps the emergency team takes to help residents prepare, manage, respond and recover from natural disasters such as earthquakes.

Also, the plan contains information to guide the local authority in dealing with potential dangers and support residents in resuming their duties after a disaster. The objectives of the communication plan are to provide the Bobsville community with prompt and reliable information about disaster management, secure the city's major assets and facilities, and improve the safety of residents and visitors.

Key Stakeholders The stakeholders in the crisis communication plan are the Bobsville City leaders, including the mayor, county council executives, religious leaders, healthcare leaders, and the residents. Other stakeholders are the emergency management team, business owners, the fire department, the local law enforcement agency, and the federal agencies.

Enabling The communication plan seeks to empower the stakeholders by providing them with relevant information about disaster preparedness and management. Also, the information will create a strong decision-making platform thus enabling stakeholders to formulate effective interventions during crises.

Functional Bobsville's communication plan will activate public relations and other functions necessary to help residents deal with disasters effectively. Information in the plan will highlight potential dangers and appropriate mitigations for earthquakes and other disasters.

Normative

3 Bobsville has encountered various disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes and snowfalls in the past. Therefore, the communication plan will borrow ideas from these encounters to help people cope and manage disasters and return to their normal lives within the shortest period possible.

Diffused Diffusing information technology and relevant ideas into disaster management is critical to achieving favorable outcomes. Technology helps disaster managers identify and implement actionable strategies (Sellnow & Seeger, 2021). Also, technology creates a platform for assimilating new processes besides propagating relevant information about crisis management and the anticipated social goals.

System for Notifying Key Publics Bobsville's crisis communication plan will operate under the mayor’s dominion.

However, the emergency coordinator will provide residents and other stakeholders with contacts to access the mayor during crises. The mayor will share relevant information through physical and virtual platforms. For instance, the mayor will send text messages, newsletters, and emails depending on the stakeholders’ preferences. The coordinator will use mass media and social networking sites to notify stakeholders.

Crisis Team The team members will comprise the mayor, religious leaders, law enforcement and federal agency representatives, fire department representatives, and the emergency and disaster preparedness manager. Also, the team will include public representatives and local business community members. The mayor will be the media spokesperson of the crisis communication team.

4 Emergency Personnel & Local Officials Emergency personnel play an invaluable role in disaster management. In this plan, the emergency personnel will be firefighters, law enforcement officers, healthcare professionals, and the National Weather Service.

Key Media Contacts In crisis management, media contacts ensure accurate information is passed to the relevant audience (Sellnow & Seeger, 2021). The media team will include the emergency manager, the Bobsville Hospital CEO, The leader of the fire department, the local radio station, and a representative of the people.

Crisis Communications Control Center The Bunny’s Tower sub-control station complex will be the crisis communication center.

Equipment & Supplies Availability of equipment and supplies is vital during disaster management. The disaster management team uses available materials to rescue people and prevent the loss of lives and property (Coleman, 2020). Equipment needed during crisis management includes first-aid kits, medical supplies, clean water, food, flashlights, emergency blankets, and radios.

Conclusion Proper communication is crucial during crisis management. It ensures reliable information is propagated to the right audience. Also, it facilitates the supplies of equipment and materials needed to rescue and improve the safety of residents.

5 References Coleman, A. (2020). Crisis communication strategies: How to prepare in advance, respond effectively, and fully recover. Kogan Page Publishers.

Coombs, T. (2018). Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding.

SAGE Publications.

Sellnow, T., & Seeger, M. (2021). Theorizing crisis communication. John Wiley & Sons.

6 Bobsville ESF7 Resource Support Annex The Emergency Support Function annex to Bobsville, emergency crisis management, organizes applicable departments and outside support agencies into groups aligning with their strategic response roles in disaster management. External agencies include law enforcers, volunteers and the private sector. Organizing these agencies into groups facilitates adequate resource allocation and utilization (Minagawa, 2018). The ESF annex distributes materials and provides information relevant to disaster management to external and internal departments. The ESF annexes are activated during emergency operations. The emergency operation center (EOC) coordinates the response and recovery activities (Farsangi, 2021). The EOC ensures adequate materials and supplies are allocated to all emergency support functions. Also, the center provides expertise and support where necessary.

Purpose The ESF #7 is mandated with coordinating the supply of resources, equipment, materials, and facilities to the emergency response teams. Also, ESF supports all disaster management phases to ensure anticipated results are accomplished. Further, it provides stakeholders with disaster information to facilitate support at all levels.

Scope The scope of ESF7 includes providing comprehensive information about management, logistic planning, and resource support. Also, ESF7 procures and ensures resources, equipment, materials, and personnel are allocated appropriate functions. The annex identifies emergencyrelated resources including contractual services, supplies, materials, offices, and heavy equipment. Also, it coordinates resource acquisition besides creating appropriate frameworks to ensure resources are allocated and used appropriately during emergency operations.

7 Direction and control The ESF will use an incident command system to respond to disasters and emergencies.

During crisis response, responders will report to incident coordinators at the control center. The ESF coordinator will deploy to incident scenes after being contacted by the emergency operations center. This implies that ESF#7 will not self-deploy to disaster sites. Responders will only call public safety and emergency dispatch points when they have critical information to communicate.

The responsibilities of the ESF coordinator will include developing, maintaining, and coordinating operational functions of the ESF#7 through the primary agency. Also, the coordinator will maintain functional contracts and inter-local agreements to boost ESF capability. Once the EOC is activated, the ESF becomes the lead agency supporting response and recovery operations (Farsangi, 2021). It develops plans and procedures to follow during emergencies. Also, ESF identifies, trains, and assigns personnel to disaster management tasks.

Bobsville & Regional Support Agencies Resources get depleted quickly during disasters. Also, allocation, prioritization, and utilization of resources become difficult once disaster strikes. Haupt and Azevedo (2022) clarified that when resources are scarce departments may disagree on proper allocation, thus hindering disaster response. Therefore, identifying regional support agencies that can provide ESF7 with the necessary resources and supplies is crucial. The support agencies that can provide supplies and temporary facility access are federal and state agencies, healthcare facilities, religious institutions and sporting complexes. These institutions offer valuable support by allowing the disaster response team to use them as operation centers during disasters. Further, hospitals and private institutions can provide specialized staff to deal with specific disaster-

8 related tasks. Federal agencies and financial institutions can support the Bobsville emergency team with finances and financial tracking systems during disasters.

9 References Farsangi, E. N., (2021). Natural Hazards: Impacts, Adjustments and Resilience. IntechOpen.

Haupt, B., & Azevedo, L. (2022). Crisis Communication Planning and Strategies for Nonprofit Leaders. Taylor & Francis.

Minagawa, Y. (2018). Building A Responsive And Flexible Supply Chain. World Scientific Publishing Company.