Established Channels Save Lives

Since Friday, I have been watching how organizations throughout the Omaha area have been sharing (or not sharing) weather emergency information during the severe weather systems that moved through the Midwest.

Here are three ways to keep people safe and informed. (If you are thinking these sound basic, they are and yet …):

• Any organization that is responsible for clearly communicating information to people to keep them safe should have well established channels including:

  • a webpage or website, with responsive design that functions on mobile devices with a clear and timely location for emergency news

  • social media channel/s that are:

    • consistenly updated throughout the year

    • with easily searchable name/s that can be found by people who haven’t previsouly followed your organization and without confusion on which channel is official

  • content management and staffing plan to continually post the most relevant and helpful information accurately and quickly, even after 5pm and over the weekend.

Established and well utilized channels can save lives. Exemplars from the Omaha tornados:

• Local television and radio websites, social media, and broadcasts

• National Weather Service

• Omaha Police Department Social Media

• Omaha Rapid Response (Volunteer coordination)

• Omaha Scanner X account

The first and fastest fund set up:

• Omaha Community Foundation

Here are some non-emergency accounts that did a good job:

• Nebraska Humane Society

• Javi’s Taco Omaha

• Relevant Community Church

• St. Patrick's Parish, Elkhorn