In the ideal system, there should be three sources of information that should always be considered trusted sources, even if they contradict each other. This prevents a choke-point, where a slow response on the part of one person doesn’t keep necessary information from getting out in a timely manner. Plus, in addition to the trusted source, an all-call warning system should be in place to let people know to check their trusted sources.

The all-call system could be a combination of loudspeakers on campus, perhaps used like the air-raid sirens, as well as the SMS message systems and pager calls. The goal of these systems is speed, not information, so only being able to send 15 pages/text messages per second is attrociously slow… Ideally, the all-call should alert 75% or more of the student population within 30 seconds… Word of mouth can (and will) inform the remaining 25%.

Next, the trusted sources should have different mediums to transmit their information. Radio is always good, because its signals can go through many walls and travel a fair distance, at least enough to cover the entire campus… Perhaps the school radio station should have an emergency broadcast protocol, and let the student and faculty population know to listen. Radio has two drawbacks, though: You must have a receiver, and if a person misses a piece of critical information, they have to wait for it to be repeated.

The second trusted source could easily be a web site. Obviously, they’re quick to update, and they overcome the problem of needing to repeat the information periodically, because downloading one web page will provide all information necessary. The shortcomings are, of course, the need for a receiver (computer with an inter/intra-net connection), and the technical learning curve needed if a person is completely computer illiterate. And yes, there are college students who don’t know how to click a mouse… I’ve tutored some of them.

The third trusted source should always remain word-of-mouth… Create a chain of concern (similar to a chain of command, but *only* for emergencies). Natural chain of concerns include teachers to students in their classroom… Also, a point-of-contact should be delegated within the barracks dorms, preferably at least one per floor. They should all be trained on how and when to contact their next-higher level, up to a group of decision makers who have direct contact with the city emergency services.

Each intermediate link in the chain of concern should have no more than six people to disseminate information to, to increase the speed of spreading information… If one person has to call fifty other people, then that last person in the list will have to wait a long time to be clued in, although if each person only called two other people, then there would be too many layers for the information to go through, again slowing it down and making the information unreliable.

Finally, here’s the key point. Instead of information only flowing down, it needs to flow back up. Shortly after the emergency all-call, a group of people should meet and set up a temporary command center with several phone lines and plenty of computers connected to the internet. If anybody has additional information, they should send it to the command center, where people will sort through the reports, coordinate with city emergency services, weed out the bad information, and give it to the group at the top of the chain of concern so that they can make decisions and begin any additional rounds of information dissemination.

The reason why there needs to be a group of decision makers is in case the emergency planner is away at a conference, has the flu, or was sleeping at home and has to drive to campus… The first decision maker on-scene can (and must) begin making decisions right away, because prompt action is the best way to mitigate any emergency.

And, of course, practicing the drills, testing the drills, and refining the system is always key… Let people know that the drills are happening, because one of the goals is to minimize panic during an emergency, not to create panic when there isn’t an emergency.

Also, human communication skills for crises came from small group interaction when rural predators were about, so to expect us to be better at large scale, dynamic communication, where a lone predator can disappear into a crowded urban environment, is nigh-on impossible.

Sorry to hear about this. Tragic. I didn’t know about the speed limitations of our system here at ASU. That doesn’t seem very effective to only send out only 15 text messages per second.

This Twitter idea is sounding better and better. I think I’m going to send an email to our Technology Office…