Are You Prepared? Tips, successes and lessons learned from the - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Crisis Communications Are You Prepared? Tips, successes and lessons learned from the communications response to back-to-back unprecedented disasters in Santa Barbara County NATOA Webinar June 3, 2019 Emergency Situations and Crisis Plans
NATOA Webinar June 3, 2019 “Emergency Situations and Crisis Plans for PEG Channels”
Presented By: Gina DePinto, APR Communications Manager, County of Santa Barbara
Tips, successes and lessons learned from the communications response to back-to-back unprecedented disasters in Santa Barbara County
Are you prepared to respond and communicate through a disaster? You never know when it will happen. Prepare PIO team for lengthy, 24/7 response Prescript bilingual messaging, video and images before a disaster strikes Communicate across multiple channels and methods
Largest wildfire in California history
until the Mendocino Complex Fire
Began Dec. 4, 2017 in
Ventura
Paula to Santa Barbara.
Damaged 13 watersheds and 17
named canyons above Montecito, Summerland, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara.
Caused $2.17 billion in damages, at a
cost of $205 million to fight.
Fire Begins in Ventura County Governor Proclaims State of Emergency Santa Barbara County Evacuation W arnings I ssued for Smoke & Ash SB County Proclaims Local Emergency; Presidential Declaration Proclaimed in S.B., Ventura, L.A., San Diego counties Fire Officially Enters SB County/ USFS Land Evacuations Lifted
One-Day Local Assistance Center Open
Real-Time Interactive Evacuation Map
Map Views
CountyofSB.org Website Traffic
Highest Single Day Web Traffic 135,000 total page views
Call Center Activity
Does not include calls to 211
Smoke & Ash Declared Local Health Emergency
Free N-95 Masks Distributed
Montecito.
estimated speeds of 30 MPH with mud, water, trees, cars, structures, homes, bridges.
weeks between Ventura and Santa Barbara.
Press Conference to Alert Community Evacuations Announced 3:30 a.m. Storm Drops ½” in 5 M inutes Debris Basin Clearing Begins Before Another Storm Local Assistance Center Opens H wy 101 Opens
LAC Transitions to Disaster Recovery Center
M ontecito Center Opens
Boil water notice lifted
Power restored to all green- tagged homes
Sewer emergency work completed
M arch 7
1/ 9 Debris Flow Key Numbers
Photo Courtesy of Santa Barbara News Press
accurate and timely information.
website, traditional and social media, CSBTV government access TV, call center/211, kiosks, daily televised press conferences and community meetings, evacuation shelter.
and rumors.
and functional needs.
Bilingual Communications: 40% of county is non-English speaker. No Power, Communications, Utilities: 130,000 customers lost power in Thomas
power, gas, cell, cable TV, water, sanitation. Evacuations During Holiday Season: Evacuations ran Dec. 6-21. Schools were closed up to 18 days in December and January. SB City College and UCSB delayed finals. Evacuation fatigue prior to debris flow. Back-to-Back Unprecedented Disasters Challenging for communication staffing resources and training.
protocol; led to Storm Ready-Set-Go
by 194%
multilingual 211 cell center received 14,667 calls
meetings shown live and streamed
Rebuilding – ReadySBC.org
Incident Reports
community meetings
interactive maps
January 2018 Debris Flow
3-5 years
evacuations
@countyofsb @csbenespanol
New Followers:
Prepare Branded Static Images in Advance to post on Instagram, FaceBook, Twitter
Wall of thanks in the EOC One of our happy animal evacuees…
Montecito Center
for Preparedness, Recovery and Rebuilding
Social media and #805strong wristbands
Gina DePinto, APR Communications Manager County of Santa Barbara gdepinto@countyofsb.org (805) 568-3428; cell (805) 319-9155