Emergency preparedness: too expensive, worrying and wasteful – so what’s next?

Since we went through the pandemic in 2020, emergencies and disasters have felt like something we have worked alongside. This year has been no different, with a summer of extreme heat, drought and wildfires. 

It is against this backdrop that reviewing the government’s report on public attitudes to emergencies becomes enlightening not just to responders but also to the communicators involved in preparedness and managing the impact of incidents.

It is no surprise that people are increasingly concerned about emergencies, which may mean we are at a time when motivation to act and prepare is higher than in previous years. 

What are they concerned about as most likely risks? Storms, extreme cold weather, cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, extreme heat, food supply disruption and extended power cuts, in descending order of concern. It is interesting to note that risks related to war, terrorism and cyber attacks are up. 

What is stopping people from preparing?

But when we get to the subject of preparedness, there is a lot to unpick. Only 13% of people felt well prepared, with 50% slightly or not prepared. Alongside that, only 14% felt local authorities and the UK generally were well prepared. 

Seventy-four per cent of people said there were effective actions to take to be prepared, 69% said it was important to prepare, and 61% felt capable. So what is blocking them?  

There were a number of issues raised, with the most mentioned being cost (29% followed by concern about wasting supplies (25%), lack of knowledge (23%), anxiety in thinking about emergencies (19%) and lack of storage (18%). 

Where people are going to get information is a challenge. Sixty-nine per cent of people did not recall seeing preparedness in the previous 12 months. Of the small number that did recall seeing something, there was a split between non-government sources on social media, traditional media, the UK Government website and social media. Of the small number that saw something, only half acted on it. 

The role of government and local communities

There has been a lack of consistent messaging about preparedness for emergencies and crises, which may be linked to the political turmoil we have had in the past six years. 

Of those involved in the survey, 84% thought the Government should share information on emergency plans, and the same number thought Government should provide information on personal preparedness actions. 

There is a desire for more information mainly from Government or local authorities. But with awareness of local resilience forums at more than 70%, we need to involve people in that structure, planning and exercising. 

And with 71% of people willing to volunteer after emergencies and 62% saying their neighbours would pull together, there is a lot that could be achieved with local people.  

What does this mean for communicators? 

1. We need to build confidence in authorities while also empowering people to take action to be prepared individually and within the household. 
2. The steps to become prepared need to be simple, easy to understand and achievable so that knowledge is turned into action. We need to detail low-cost options that can be part of everyday actions and avoid stress in messaging. 
3. If more people are to be contacted, then amplification of official messages is critical, and there needs to be a consistent sharing of relevant information throughout someone’s life. 
4. Activities are needed to connect people with local resilience forums so they can understand the planning and preparation and how they can get involved, be ready or support others.  
5. Discussion about risks and preparedness needs to start in school to remove some of the fear and replace it with reassurance and action. 

This situation needs to change so that next year people are more aware and ready. Local connection to planning and preparation is vital to remove some of the pressure on services. 

It can only come with openness, recognising the barriers and finding ways to simplify the steps to take. With the challenges and uncertainty from both climate and geopolitical events, we need to stop asking questions and act on the answers. 

Chartered PR practitioner Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication expert and consultant, founder of Amanda Coleman Communication - where this blog was first published - and the author of Strategic Reputation Management. She is also a Fellow of the CIPR. 

Further reading

Crisis? What Crisis? Ten principles of crisis communications

10 phrases that should (probably) never appear in your crisis communications

Should you rely on instinct or data in crisis comms?