WASHINGTON (April 19, 2024) – A new report out this week details failed communications and a lack of preparedness before and during the devastating wildfires in Maui last year. According to the AP, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island as the crisis unfolded, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts. Communications issues also plagued the Hawaii Electric Company. Power and emergency workers were unable to confirm whether power lines were de-energized until after the fires had caused widespread damage.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary on the report. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact Kathy Fackelmann, [email protected] and Cate Douglass at [email protected].
Elizabeth Andrade is an assistant professor in the department of prevention and community health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. Andrade is a behavioral scientist with expertise in health communications, community-based participatory research using mixed methods, and the planning, implementation and evaluation of culturally and linguistically tailored public health interventions and campaigns. She can discuss how disaster communication plans and training are not designed with catastrophic situations in mind. Andrade was part of a team of GW researchers who conducted the most comprehensive study of the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. She says CDC CERC guidelines don’t include catastrophic situations, and this continues to be a glaring gap event after event.
Robert Orttung is a research professor of international affairs at the George Washington University and the director of research at Sustainability GW. Orttung is leading two National Science Foundation grants focused on promoting urban sustainability in the Arctic and is serving as the editor of the forthcoming Sustaining Russia’s Arctic Cities.
Orttung has published research in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction regarding communications during wildfires. Orttung and his co-authors explore how fire communicators can best convey risk and crisis information to meet growing concerns about wildfire impacts among a diverse audience of residents.
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