Effective communication during disasters is crucial for saving lives and ensuring coordinated response efforts. This presentation will explore current communication challenges faced during emergencies, from the perspective of a university. While the internet provides essential connectivity, it is vulnerable to infrastructure failures, cyberattacks, and overload during high-demand situations. Struggles exist with reaching such a diverse population, especially on and off campus. Additionally, mass notification systems, while valuable, face limitations in scalability, real-time updates, and accessibility for all affected communities. Through this case study, this presentation will highlight limitations and opportunities to enhance these alert and warning, addressing gaps in disaster response.

What Will the Audience Learn:

Through a look at this university, attendees from all jurisdictions will gain a deeper understanding of the limitations and opportunities within current communication systems during disasters. They will leave with practical knowledge to start improving coordination, ensure accessibility, and enhance the resilience of communication infrastructure. Starting to overcome issues in alert and warning starts with knowing your population served, and how deep that truly can go, limitations on alerting, and positive steps that can be taken to improve on that.

Course Level: Beginner

About the Presenter

After nearly two decades in the 9-1-1 center, George Long now works in other areas of Emergency Communications and higher education. He is an adjunct lecturer at Central Washington University and works with various communications units of Incident Management Teams supporting wildland fire responses and all hazard responses. He responded to many incidents at the local, state and national levels. A volunteer for 30 years, he has been involved with CERT, Civil Air Patrol, the Washington State Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Kittitas County Auxiliary Communications Service.Cepeda is the Emergency Management Coordinator at CWU. He has 15 years in emergency management (healthcare, non-profit and higher education), 28 years of prior law enforcement experience and 17 years of military experience. He is also a Domestic and International Security Consultant (Major League Baseball, international governments, domestic municipalities, non-profits, education disciple).