I hear all the time that 'communication is key'and 'information is power'. I believe that these statements are true.  I think one of the integral parts of disaster management is early warning, early notification. People accept things better and react in a calmer manner when they know what is going on. Panic can be decreased with early notification- a  level voice on the phone, radio, podcast or a short, informative text message or e-mail explaining what is going on and what to do.

We are way ahead of the days of tornado sirens and weather radios, television and pagers.  With all of the communication devices available to us here in the United States, no longer is everyone glued to a radio or flagging down the newspaper guy. People are texting, twittering, facebooking, calling, podcasting 2-way radioing and push to talking to each other!  Early warning of disaster, natural or otherwise, could be sent to those who register their cell phone or home phone number or e-mail address. Information and instructions can be sent via text or recorded message. Information can be posted and updated on Twitter & Facebook. More and more people are using these social networking sites for information gathering.

My daughter's school utilizes the recorded message concept, just on a smaller scale. I receive recorded messages on both my cell phone and home phone informing me if school is closing early, if there is an emergency, if school is out the next day, etc.  This could be implemented in a person's city, county, state or regional Emergency Management Group.  People could 'opt in' or 'opt out' to receive notifications for their area, just as they do on the telemarketer advertising 'no call' list.

How to do this? Funding for these notification systems would need to be funnelled to the proper emergency management group for an area. Federal and state funds would need to be implemented. A small tax or may be necessary to supplement this. Bonds or grants would probably come in to play for more rural areas. 

All of these communication devices will not prevent a disaster from occurring. However, if we have the systems in place for early detection, we should have systems in place for early warning- for every citizen.