Flood Preparation and Evacuation in Puyallup by Pierce County Emergency Management

Statement of Purpose: The mission of the Pierce County Emergency Management would be to make sure the residents of Puyallup and the entire Pierce county dwell in safe places to reduce the number of casualties in the occurrence of the flood as well as ensure more comfortable evacuation of the victims.

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Just after the flood disaster happens, Pierce County Emergency Management can collaborate with other organizations in the process of gathering and communicating all information related to the calamity.

Outline the responsibilities and protocols which shall be the guidelines on how information will be shared in the vent of a crisis. Walaski (2011) defines crisis as an event that prompts significant news coverage and can potentially damage institutions image or reputation.

Scope: The scope takes in all the activities intended to inform residents of probable occurrence of flooding, how to react in the event the floods happen and what to do after the disaster. Requirements that will be taken into consideration to make this plan active are listed below all with the goal of making communication open and available to residents. They include:

• All residential and property owners need to be knowledgeable when the weather is changing for the worst
• Each residential place should have printed flyers with instructions on what to do in preparation, during and after the floods.
• The instructions should reach residents within an hour after reports or warnings of the flood.

Assumptions and Assumed Situations: When it comes to natural calamities, Puyallup is the region that is most vulnerable to pretty much all of the disasters CITATION Rin14 \l 2057 (Rinck, 2014). The region has dealt with its fair share of flooding among other disasters in the past years. With this in mind, the environment would be the region around Puyallup which is at the center of the flood zones. Flooding usually occurs towards the end of summer or at any time of the year influenced by the unpredictable weather. Property owners or managers can report a suspicious even to the Program Director. This information can then be disbursed immediately to the Executive Director who will then decide relative to the what, where, when and how answers of the flooding if it should be sent to the media. The information is then prepared in printed, e-mail and social media post. Crisis question on whether the situation can escalate or not can be asked as well.

Audience Profile: This crisis communication plan is for the residents of the city of Puyallup being in service of the entire public. Consequently, the audience profile would comprise the tenants and their families within Puyallup, Pierce County Emergency Management staff and their families and any other person who could face the adverse effect of the calamity.

Communication Strategy: In the event of a crisis, the Executive Director will declare an emergency. This crisis plan requires that Pierce County Emergency Management notify the entire Puyallup region. The team will carry out the tasks of immediate response procedures, evacuation procedures, and social media guidelines.

The concept of Operations: Generally, the plan is to evacuate residents from the places that are affected by the flood and do so efficiently to avoid extra damages. The plan becomes active after the issuing of flood warnings whereby the program director gives the property owners messages relaying how residents should act.

Crisis Communication Plan Evaluation: To gauge the performance of the plan, the team can conduct mock drills.

The intention here is to determine whether there is any form of errors in the plan as well as test its suitability in regards to its accommodability, age, and gender among other factors.

It is quite indispensable to ensure that the associated stakeholders, the public and staff understand the services and feel safe about it.

Ultimately, communication with other emergency bodies related to issues of flooding such as the sewer companies can be tested here.

The Tasks of Key Leaders: In the occurrence of a crisis, the Program Director will be responsible for the coordination of the entire staff and contacting a representative. However, this follows only after the approval and determination of the extent of the crisis by the Executive Director. Other key leaders are the Director for Media Relations, the Executive Communication Strategist and the Pierce County Emergency Management Spokesperson. All these people hold various roles but most important is that of the spokesperson. He/she will handle the question of media. Technical professionalism and knowledge about the crisis at hand is a necessity for complementing on any facts that might be confusing to the public

Plan Development and Maintenance: This plan will be maintained and reviewed every five years if it happens it is never used anywhere. If an emergency occurs and this plan is put into action, then the results and how it was executed will act as guidelines for necessary changes and improvements.

Appendix: The plan scripts that can be included in an appendix are the list of residents, the supplies required for this crisis, the position and titles of the leaders, reports, and contacts information.

References

Rinck, B. A. (2014). A geoarchaeological perspective on late Holocene Puyallup River delta history using lithostratigraphic data from Xaxtl'abish 1 on the Hylebos Creek distributary in Tacoma, WA. Quaternary International, 342, 5-19.

Walski, P. (2011). Risk and Crisis Communication. Method and Messages. John Wiley and Sons.