cherokee county tornado drill testing social media
DESCRIPTION
This is a drill that was conducted as part of a graduate course on Information Technology for Emergency Management. The test sites of social networking sites have been removed from public access.TRANSCRIPT
- 1. Cherokee County Tornado Drill
Please start at 1900 hours.
The slide show will automatically forward to the next page at the proper times.
2. Invite
We invite you, as our guests, to follow the scripted time-line of
events while also observing the events on our Cherokee County EMA
web site. These are the actions and processes taken by the Cherokee
County EMA Director, his staff, and the citizens of the city
Canton. Our project begins with the members of our Emergency
Operations Center (EOC) following the weather... we hope you will
enjoy!
3. Background
This is a story line of the events that will take place on the
night of 29 July 2010 in Canton, Georgia. For it is on this night,
that the citizens of Canton will receive a direct strike from a
Tornado.
The National Weather Service (NWS), produced a map that indicates
frontal boundaries between a rising warm front and a sinking cold
front that will collide in North-North Central Georgia and could
have a potential for severe weather.
4. 1800 Hours
EMA Director activates internal EOC staff to observe weather
conditions.
5. 1840 Hours
WS radar in Atlanta indicates a strong line of thunderstorms
forming along the frontal boundaries in NW Georgia. Cherokee County
is placed under a tornado watch until midnight. Will be another
static picture on the website during the exercise: Jim
6. 1905 Hours
EMA director initiates full scale city activation. All
predestinated city employees and tasked Emergency Support Functions
(ESFs) must immediately report to Cherokee County EMA.
7. 1908 Hours
EMA Director directs staff to notify Georgia State EMA utilizing
all county social media accounts of potential for Tornado strike in
area of Canton, Georgia. Also directs County Logistics Chief to
verify readiness of Food, Water, and MREs from County warehouse to
expected shelters.
8. 1910 Hours
EMA posts FEMA electronic pamphet for families on What to Do in the
event of a Tornado
EMA Operations Chief creates incident in situation response
software (webeoc) and posts first responder training videos for its
use.
9. 1930 Hours
EMA Planning Chief prepares Google maps of Canton for EOC
operations for tracking of weather. Also tagged in maps are city
critical infrastructure, hospital, shelters, schools, as well as
various state and federal road access points into city in the event
of arrival of additional supply and resource needs. Map will also
serve as tagged points of Tornado reports by citizens.
10. 1950 Hours
NWS Doppler radar indicated a bow echo formation approaching
Canton, GA from the NW at 18 mph. NWS Atlanta initiated media
alerts due to Tornado Warning.
11. 1951 Hours
EMA Duty Officer (EMDO) initiates Tornado sirens in the Canton
area. In addition social media (Facebook, RSS, Twitter and Cherokee
Alert) is utilized to push out information to the citizens.
Powerpoint with audio (loud audio) of approaching bow echo (from
approx 07:51 to
07:58)http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/jimbola-444478-canton-tornado-approach-em-518-2/**note-video
is approx 9 minutes long, and the slides change at 2 minute
intervals to show the progression of the storm-this video will play
during the entire pre-impact phase-as an in progress radar event.
This will be loaded on the site via YouTube and ready to go.
Jim
12. 1955 Hours
Cherokee County EMDO contacts the on duty Chiefs for the Cherokee
County, Canton, and the Hickory Flat Fire Department to advise of
potential for impact of a tornado.
13. 1958 Hours
NWS is reporting a tornado formation 3 miles due North of River
Place Shopping Center.Video (static picture of a huge wall cloud)
with tornado sirens will be inserted via YouTube at 19:58:
Jim
14. 2000 Hours
Twitter alerts from residents of Canton were being received. Alerts
confirmed that a sizable tornado was on the ground due north of the
Riverside Shopping Center moving due south.
15. 2002 Hours
EMA confirms initial strike of Tornado in River Place Shopping
Center.
Show Twitter from Twitter and Facebook Site
City 911 dispatch receiving calls concerning injuries at Riverside
Place Shopping Center. City PD, EMS and Fire dispatched to
location.
http://twitter.com/ccematest
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100001249045167&ref=ts
16. 2010 Hours
Received first emails of videos of tornado striking shopping center
and neighborhoods.
Additional inputs from EOC and citizens.
17. 2013 Hours
EMA, based on projected path of Tornado, post city shelter
locations and status of those expected to open soon.
18. 2016 Hours
EMA director dispatches members of EOC staff for initial site
damage assessment and tasks Public Information Officer (PIO) to
dispatch known details of events through its Social Media
applications (Face Book, Twitter, Cherokee Alert software, and
UStream.
Observe PIO utilizing of County EMA social media tools
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIVNHwQC0oM
19. 2022 Hours
EMA releases slide shows of areas reporting damages.
20. 2025 Hours
EMA also shows google maps of point damaged.
21. 2030 Hours
EMA releases shelters opened for citizens affected.
22. 2031 Hours
Based on staff assessments, damage in and around shopping center
are vast with large numbers of injured citizens and city structures
damaged. Multiple fires at gas stations and reports of severed gas
lines.
23. 2035 Hours
EMA director assigns Deputy Operations Chief to impact area and
assume control of Incident CommandOnce command is established three
videos from cell phone tweeted to Cherokee twitter.