ABSTRACT

Communications is a critical element of professional emergency management operations. Information exchanged before, during, and after disasters-whether formally, informally, technically, or organically-ensures decisions and choices are made that reduce the threat to those individuals, facilities, and community components that may have been impacted by an emergent event. However, one of the most common challenges identified by professional emergency managers, after exercises, training sessions, and real events, is a failure of communications. These failures can occur for a variety of reasons including infrastructure failures, political sensitivities, diversity of systems, personality conflicts, and unmet expectations. This chapter will look at how communication processes and corresponding engagement have changed over the last decade and what trends exist that emergency managers can use to forecast and predict communication needs into the future.