Command, control and communication and the greatest of these is communication

Citation

Wilson, H.C. (2007), "Command, control and communication and the greatest of these is communication", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 16 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2007.07316baa.001

Command, control and communication and the greatest of these is communication

In the early part of the 1990s I published a paper which looked at the three Cs of disaster management and prevention in which I came down on the side of good, effective communication as the prime target.

Here we are in the mid-2000s and people are still saying that our potential to effectively handle disastrous events is good solid and effective communications. We live in an age when communications and information transfer is the ultimate god. Never before in the history of mankind has communications been so reliable, effective, quick and cheap. No matter where we are, especially in the developed nations, we are never further away from our loved ones than a reach into a pocket or handbag. We can receive news podcasts where ever we are: we can now (if the hype at the recent Las Vegas convention is to be believed) access our home computers where ever we are in the world (with limitations of course); we can now multi-task on our mobile phones as well as hold conference calls at the same time.

So, why is it as soon as the disaster sirens start that our communications systems seem to be the first to collapse? Why is it that I can send a photo to Australia from the UK from my mobile phone in a matter of seconds but in a disaster could not get a situation report from three miles down the road?

Perhaps part of the explanation can be seen in a recent scorecard report issued by the Homeland Security Department of the USA in which they surveyed 75 major cities in the USA five years post-9/11 to look at their “interoperable communications” systems and what improvements had been made. Only six out of the 75 reached the top rating. I doubt if any other of the developed nations could return any better results.

After the inquest that follows any disaster the major improvement to be recommended is better, more effective, communication systems and politicians jump onto that bandwagon with great gusto until they discover what the cost of replacing out-dated dilapidated communications systems is going to be and then the recommendations are quietly forgotten, until the next time.

Good at “talking the talk” but scared to “walk the walk”, and yet if each nation devoted one-half of 1 per cent of their military budget to solving this problem just think of the vast improvements that could be made.

H.C. Wilson