With the string of tornadoes sweeping the country, emergency management officials nationwide are grappling with how they can do more to keep people safe and secure.

Yesterday, during the deadly twisters in western Massachusetts, 20 communities reported tornado “touchdowns” leaving citizens caught off guard, saying “we didn’t realize it was a tornado until it was too late.”   This spring, following each of horrific incident, officials have learned that having a resilient alerts and warnings infrastructure is essential to savings lives.  Here is what we know:  if one community within a county or region, has certain alerts and warnings capabilities go down, all surrounding jurisdictions are impacted, placing public safety at risk.

This scenario of having capabilities go down is what also keeps emergency responders up at night.   If communications systems are unavailable during a catastrophic incident, emergency responders are unable to direct support services necessary for search, rescue and recovery operations, including mobilizing hospitals, removing debris, and fixing disruptive power-lines and gas leaks.

With advancements in social media technologies, officials of alerts and warnings now have more tools to communicate with the public before incidents occur.    The key for governments at all levels is knowing how to use these tools in a way that compliments long-standing existing alerts and warnings systems, such as sirens, and notifications through the radio and television.  When the tornados hit in Massachusetts and Missouri, citizens said the storms sounded like trains coming, making it difficult to hear the sirens.   Technologies provide more tools and applications to disseminate instant communications, which enable officials to send alerts and warnings to more people in less time.   Customizing a “system of ‘systems” approach for alerts and warnings, which accounts for social technologies helps communities become more resilient, robust, and redundant.

In the wake of these historic storms, the best way to determine the most resilient investments for using social media technologies is to develop relationships across disciplines and jurisdictions well before incidents.    Achieving increased resiliency is an ongoing practice that starts with officials recognizing what Jack Hayes of the National Weather Service recently said following the recent tornados in Missouri, “It’s not enough.  We have to do more.”   The next time alerts and warnings officials gather to assess capabilities and the use of technologies, they should start by asking how will this increase resiliency and do more to keep people safe.

For more interesting reads:

• Tornado-hit Missouri town calls for improved warning systems
• Mass. tornadoes wrecked at least 200 buildings; official death toll remains at four
• Massachusetts Begins Cleanup After Tornadoes