Reply to class discussion<\/p>\n
Technology in Emergency Management has evolved over the yearsT. From using simple paper to document large scale events to web-based software with real-time links to<\/p>\n
responders in the field. The field of Emergency Management is ever changing and technology is one of the drivers behind this change. The days of solely relying on the<\/p>\n
mainstream media to deliver a story or warning is starting to fade away with the implementation of social media and smart PHONE applications. In the moments which<\/p>\n
followed the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013, Boston Police Department Commissioner Edward Davis started alerting the public of the incident via Twitter and Facebook.<\/p>\n
Before long, the media was realizing the most accurate information about the incident was coming from the Department\ufffd\ufffd\ufffds Twitter account (Newcombe, 2014, para. 2). This<\/p>\n
close to real-time information quelled a large amount of rumors, assisted in keeping the public safe and informed as well as providing the media with the official<\/p>\n
story.<\/p>\n
Cutting edge technology is also being used at the City of Palm Beach Gardens Emergency Operations Communications Center (EOCC). On Thursday, September 29, 2016 I<\/p>\n
interviewed Palm Beach Gardens Emergency Manager David Reyes about the technology used in the EOCC. Reyes informed me the EOCC uses WebEOC as well as their own self<\/p>\n
developed system to plan, track and manage incidents in the city. According to Reyes, WebEOC is used for communications and coordination with the Palm Beach County<\/p>\n
EOC. While WebEOC is a good program, the City\ufffd\ufffd\ufffds Technology Department created their own program which integrates with the City\ufffd\ufffd\ufffds Geographic Information System (GIS).<\/p>\n
This allows for better incident tracking, response efforts and creating documentation to aid in creating reimbursement documentation for Federal Emergency Management<\/p>\n
Agency (FEMA). Reyes has also taken an innovative approach by limiting the use of some technology in the EOCC. According to Reyes, in the past each department would<\/p>\n
correspond with the other via email, even though they both were in a medium size room and could see each other. Reyes explained he encourages representatives step away<\/p>\n
from the email and walk to the person they need to correspond with. These face-to-face communications have improved communications by eliminating the guess work of<\/p>\n
interpreting content of emails. All incidents and requests are still documented and FEMA 215 forms are accurately able to be completed. Reyes also uses the City\ufffd\ufffd\ufffds<\/p>\n
Facebook, Twitter and reverse 9-1-1 systems to relay information to residents in a timely manner.<\/p>\n
Reyes stressed the IMPORTANCE of actual face-to-face communications inside the EOCC when possible as it has improved the accuracy of reporting and improved the efforts<\/p>\n
of responders.<\/p>\n
References:<\/p>\n
Newcombe, T. (2014, September 24). Social Media: Big Lessons from the Boston Marathon Bombing. Government Technology. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.govtech.com\/public-<\/p>\n
safety\/Social-Media-Big-Lessons-from-the-Boston-Marathon-Bombing.html<\/p>\n
David Reyes, Director Public Services & Emergency Management, 561-804-7015 \ufffd\ufffd\ufffd Email: DReyes@PBGFL.COM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reply to class discussion Technology in Emergency Management has evolved over the yearsT. From using simple paper to document large scale events to web-based software with real-time links to responders in the field. The field of Emergency Management is ever Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}