Media workers attend volcano workshop

The media has a critical role to play in the dissemination of information during a natural disaster.{{more}}

This was highlighted last Friday, as media workers participated in a workshop which enlightened them as to systems that are in place to help them to execute their job efficiently during a disaster.

One such system is the Disaster Broadcast Protocol, which has been in operation in St Vincent and the Grenadines since 2006.

“It’s a system of rules that explain how people should conduct themselves, what procedures are to be followed, in formal situations of emergencies. We have a proliferation of media houses. We also have a few newspapers and we have a couple television entities…and therefore, when there is information of an emergency nature to be communicated, there has to be some organized way of getting that information out to the population,” Corletha Ollivierre, the general manager of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) explained.

Ollivierre noted that that the protocol is also necessary in order to “have that information communicated accurately to inform the population simultaneously because people listen to different stations.”

“It is likely that you may miss something on one station but if it is simultaneous, it’s an emergency situation then even if you are on radio nine, or radio two or radio four, we expect that you will hear the same information and this can be communicated accurately at the same time throughout the networks,” she said.

Among other things, the protocol labels NBC as the conduit through which information is broadcast to other stations and by extension, the population. The protocol requires that radio stations familiarize persons with the emergency tones and conduct simulation exercises to test systems and messages.

The main facilitator of the workshop was Natalie Edgecombe, the education and communication outreach coordinator at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

In her presentations, Edgecombe stressed the importance of packaging information in an understandable way for the public.

“Target a specific demographic. Know who you are speaking to and try and get it to the people who need to get it,” she said.

Speaking specifically about the volcano, the communications personnel highlighted the importance of broadcasting information even without a present disaster, as persons tend to forget the impact of a disaster that had happened previously.

“You may want to think of what you can do in the quiet spells like now, to create a lasting consciousness that there is an active volcano,” Edgecombe told media officials.

Participants were also enlightened on the effective ways of communicating information to the public, without creating panic.(BK)