Hawaii wildfires: Saying what needs to be said

The horrific situation in Hawaii is dominating recent media reports. Reporters have descended on the area and have been putting pressure on the emergency responders in news conferences. Over the weekend footage from one of them was being widely shared. It was of the Maui police chief John Pelletier who was blunt in his response to journalists asking about the identification of the victims of the fire.

His emotional response was honest and gave a detailed account of the challenging situation that they were faced with. But I don’t feel he ever became too graphic and he attempted to ensure that it was as sensitive as it could be to talk about such a difficult subject. Disaster victim identification is incredibly complex and difficult to undertake and particularly in the circumstances that are being faced in Maui.

The reality of emergencies and disasters is that the world, and reporters, want quick answers and swift responses to the who, what, where etc. As the police chief pointed out this is not possible when faced with such devastation and loss of life. We all need to remember that these are real people, real lives, and not some disaster movie where things can be neatly sown up within a couple of hours. The impact of the devastation in Maui will take a very long time to deal with and recovery is a long way in the future. 

Communicators and PR professionals may have felt uneasy if the police chief had said how he was going to talk about the situation. We often want to avoid any possible friction with journalists and media organisations, we struggle to try and find the right words to capture what needs to be said. But there are times when the raw truth is what is needed. There are times when someone has to say what needs to be said. There are times when we need to show the emotion of the situation. 

The police chief talked about friends and family being among the increasing number of those who lost their lives. This is about more than just doing a professional job, or as he says, ‘doing it right’, it is a personal commitment to do the best for his community, family and friends. 

This is not a time for ‘disaster tourists’ attempting to visit the area. This is a time when the emergency responders need to be able to do the challenging and complex work to identify the victims, help those who are grieving, and to help people get through a day at a time. For communicators, the comments are an important reminder that sometimes it is important to say what needs to be said.

Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication expert and consultant, founder of Amanda Coleman Communication and the author of Crisis Communication Strategies.

This post was originally published on her Amandacomms blog. Read the original post.