Thad Allen is now the preeminent federal responder to disasters of a national significance. I expect that he might be called upon by another President to provide his leadership should we experience another Katrina/Oil Spill/Earthquake type of mega event.
NPR had an interview with him, see Thad Allen Interview What caught my attention was his mention near the end about how you cannot ignore the general population when responding to a disaster. They will insert themselves into the event. This then is the power of social media that he only vaguely referred to, but it is what I know to be the issue. Involve them, or deal with the consequences of their self-organizing to participate in the response.
I think we need to be proactive about leveraging their interest in helping. Creating the mechanisms for them to do that is key. A little bit of preparedness and social media engagement will pave the way!
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NPR had an interview with him, see Thad Allen Interview What caught my attention was his mention near the end about how you cannot ignore the general population when responding to a disaster. They will insert themselves into the event. This then is the power of social media that he only vaguely referred to, but it is what I know to be the issue. Involve them, or deal with the consequences of their self-organizing to participate in the response.
I think we need to be proactive about leveraging their interest in helping. Creating the mechanisms for them to do that is key. A little bit of preparedness and social media engagement will pave the way!
