The tornadoes that have left many communities in the US devistated in recent weeks have shown us – among the tragedy and incredible fortitude of the survivors and response organizations – new challenges and uses of how social media has to be employed.
In the past, CrisisCommons has offered support and online coordination for earthquakes, floods, snow storms, tsunamis, forest fires and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. While all disasters cannot be predicted (earthquakes for one), there is often at least some time to initiate warnings to the public, and social media has been used to amplify that message. That amplification has been criticized to a degree, with some arguing that messages from official sources sometimes gets distorted as it is shared throughout the social media ecosystem, and in some cases, there is truth to that criticism. However, in our opinion, the positives of as many people as possible sharing warnings outweighs the negatives associated with possible distortion of the message down the line.
That said, not all disasters are the same, and the recent tornadoes have shown both the power and problems of social media as warning system. Why? Simply put, a tornado is a particular beast – it can drop down anywhere and turn its path on a dime. You could perhaps say the same thing about a fire, as a fire is often something officials can see coming, control to a degree, and get people out of the way of – but when it comes to tornadoes, officials may only have minutes to get the word out (similar in a way to near-shore earthquakes that generate tsunamis). So what have we observed over the last few weeks regarding these tornadoes and how social media has reacted/been used as a warning system?
First of all, we’ve seen a somewhat new type of message – the “TAKE SHELTER NOW!” tweets that have been employed by relief organizations, the news media and often retweeted by many people, whether they are local to the affected area or not. We’ve seen somewhat similar warnings with tsunamis, but a tsunami can affect an entire coastline of a country – or even a region – and generally requires people to evacuate to higher ground, if possible. With a tornado, however, the area is much more focused, to the point of specific towns and even streets needing to be alerted. So while we are continuing to see local radio and especially local television – which has the added bonus of being able to show weather radar – being used for these alerts, this new type of “TAKE SHELTER!” messages have become a forceful cue for people (possibly without electrical power due to high winds, but still with working smartphones) in precise areas to enter their basements or storm shelters.
Is there a downside to these messages? Well, yes and no. There largest downside that we see is that some of the “TAKE SHELTER NOW!” messages do no specify exactly what locations should take shelter, and some do not include information on the path of the tornado. Another downside is the lack of a clear timestamp on many of these tweets – i.e. a better message than “TAKE SHELTER NOW!” would be “tornado appearing at locationX at timeX – TAKE SHELTER!” – while Twitter has a timestamp, it can be very hard to determine if the information is new, or in fact, in the case of multiple tornadoes (which we’ve seen) which tornado people are talking about.
Another issue could be that constantly telling people to “take shelter” may desensitize them to the warnings, especially if they turn out to be false alarms – but that risk of watering down the message in reality is much less of a concern than the very real consequences that not getting the message out entails. So we are inclined to suggest that with tornadoes, when in doubt, tweet it out.
Social media for emergency management is an ever-evolving process and medium we’re hoping to start a discussion on how tornado warnings can evolve through social media, and we’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments.
As always, our thoughts go out to the communities in Missouri, Alabama, Massachusetts and other US states that continue to recover from this devastating weather.
feel free to improve upon or revise the following advice if you choose to.
each person should have some way to get alerts for if dangerous weather is in, or likley going to be comeing to, there area, from weather services, or dangerous weather detecting radar, or systems.
sirens should go off when its time to go inside, enter the basement or storm shelter, or evacuate and go to a safer location.
when the weather is dangerous enough to a point where people should enter their basements or storm shelters, weather advisors should tell people to enter their basements or storm shelters.
dangerous weather warnings and alerts should be made thru media and social media, such as tv, internet, and radio, broadcasted to the affected areas during the time of the threat. tweeting your freinds, or useing private alert messeges, is also good, putting date and time stamps on the messege is good.
specify exactly what locations should take shelter, and include information on the path of the tornado. a better message than soley saying“TAKE SHELTER NOW!” ,would be “GO INTO BASEMENT OR STORM SHELTER – tornado appearing at location:_______ at time:______ , if you are in a car, get out and go into the ditch, grab onto a sturdy metal pipe sticking out from the ground, stay away from trees and powerlines…!”
saying less is not always best, as when you only say “TAKE SHELTER” even though its much better than nothing, the better option would be to add more details, such as “GO INTO BASEMENT OR STORM SHELTER – tornado appearing at location:_______ at time:______ , if you are in a car, get out and go into the ditch, grab onto a sturdy metal pipe sticking out from the ground, stay away from trees and powerlines…!”
if there is type of threat:_________ in zone/area/town/location:_________and you are in zone/location(ex:house, car, not near basement…):__________, then go to the saftest zone/location:______
the messege should be short, when there is not enough time to give out a long and more detailed messege, but still the messege should be informative enough so the people know what to do, important details should not be left out.
when there is not enough time to give all the details, give the most important details, but when you have extra time, keep giveing more less important, but still useful or good to know, details.
if you dont have much time, then just tell them: “GO INTO BASEMENT OR STORM SHELTER – tornado appearing at location:_______ at time:______ .if you are in a car, get out and go into the ditch, grab onto a sturdy metal pipe sticking out from the ground, stay away from trees and powerlines…!”
if you have extra time, add more things: such as WHERE TO GO, like a basement or storm shelter….
tell exactly where they should be takeing shelter, just saying take shelter is not enough,
tell them if they should go inside a building, away from windows, in the basement, get out of there car, go in a ditch, get away from trees.. stay at least 25 feet away from down power lines, dont drive in this weather, and the reasons not to drive, such as the likely possibility that this storm has the potentional to knock down trees and powerlines, even if down trees and powerlines have not been currently reported, its likley that additional unreported trees and powerlines might have already been knocked down, or are likley to be knocked down. and reasons to go in the basement, such as there is 90mph winds, 90mph winds have a likley chance that a tree might fall on someone’s house that can cave in a roof, it might or might not be your house, so go in the basement…
tell them what type of damage the storm might be capable of causeing. ex: 60mph winds are capable of takeing power lines down… ex:90mph winds are capable of blowing off roofs, and knocking over large trees onto houses, causeing the house to be destroyed… tell them how dangerous and destructive the weather is and is likley to be.
tell them what time and location the dangerous weather is occureing.
tell them when are where the dangerous weather will be in the future.
announce when the weather warning is no longer in effect for particular areas.
after the storm has passed, the affected area should be assesed, all downed power lines and dangerous trees should be fixed, after downed power lines, dangerous trees, and other hazards have been fixed, an announcment should be made that its now safe enough to go outside, or to the affected area.
if you are unsure if there is or will likley be a weather hazard in someone’s area:
1. if there is enough time for them to prepare, tell them what saftey precautions to take (if there is not enough time skip this step)
2. tell them where to go
3. tell them at what time and location the weather hazard is likley to be in at the moment.
4. tell them what time and location the weather hazard will likley or might be in the future. (the weather hazard/dangerous storm:______ might be arriveing in location:_____at time:_____ .)
5. if there is enough time, add additional information. (if there is not enough time skip this step)
when the weather service is in doubt if the weather is dangerous enough to go to a safer location, such as a basement or storm shelter, the weather service should tell the people in the affected area to go to the safer locations, such as basement or storm shelter.
with tornadoes, when in doubt, tweet it out, or tell people your concerns for there saftey and advise them to seek a safer shelter, such as a basment or storm shelter, even if you are unsure the chance that the storm will effect you or them.
if you get a warning from a private source, telling you to go in the basement to protect yourself from a tornado, or severe storm, and are unsure about if its nessicary or not, its better to go in the basement anyways, take the safer option, even if it wasnt nessicary.
if there is a severe thunderstorm, and your unsure if its nessicary to seek a safer shelter, such as a basement or storm shelter, better to go into the basement or storm shelter anyways.
when it comes to dangerous weather, when in doubt, take the safer route.
its better to over warn a little, than it is to underwarn.
the earthquake early warning system might not be in your location, but should be in all locations that are likley to get a strong and dangerous quake
there is an early warning system for earth quakes, it can give you about 80 seconds to seek a safer location, or prepare for the quake.
each person should be informed about what to do in certian types of dangerous weather are likley to happen in their area, such as earthquakes, floods, snow storms, tsunamis, forest fires and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. before the hazardous events happen, exspecially relateing to what type of dangerous weather events are likley to happen in their area. when it is “tornado season” more information should be spread with in tornado prone areas, about how to prepare, and be safe when a tornado comes.
talk to your friends and neighbors about preparedness and saftey. encourage people to talk about how to prepare for weather and what to do when dangerous weather occurs in there area.
if someone constantly tells you to take shelter, and it turns out to be a false alarm, dont become desensitized to future warnings. if there is time, ask a trusted source if the warning is true.
it seems unlikley that the weather service you have relied on, will purposely lie to you, so if your trusted weather service makes some mistakes once in a while, if nessicary, alert them to the mistakes they have been doing and how to fix it, and have them agree to try to prevent any future mistakes, and if nessiary teach them how to be better, and see if you feel confident that they will do the right thing in the future, and if you think they will mostly likley not make the same mistakes, continue to follow there advised weather directions, unless you know of a wiser choice, and prefer to follow your own or someone else’s directions if they are better.
dont purposly lie by telling people to take shelter immediatly to warn them to protect them from hazardous or likley to be hazardous weather, if you know there is no threat of hazardous weather at all for their area.