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Our west coast office has been on shaky ground lately. No—we’re not referring to the recessionary challenges we are all experiencing. We are referring to the increasing number of earthquakes in the region. The LA based partner of BR Public Relations has been saying “did you feel that one” a lot lately. After doing a Google search for recent earthquakes Los Angeles she is mollified by the fact that she isn’t exaggerating -- there have been seven quakes recorded over a thirty six hour period. Since our firm prides itself on its crisis management savvy, perhaps we should view the minor shake ups as a wake up call for efficient disaster preparedness.

We’ve seen air traffic come to a halt from the volcanic eruption in Iceland, we’ve seen catastrophic damage in Haiti, Chili and China, and just as Louisiana has begun to recover from Katrina, they now join their southeast seaboard neighbors in facing the big ugly oil spill.

Nowadays, we have learned that we have to be ready for almost anything. Here’s a check list that we share with businesses, but it would behoove everyone to create personal emergency plans as well. And we thank Alan B. Bernstein who has authored three editions of The Emergency Public Relations Manual for reference. And there’s more news! Alan B. Bernstein has asked this LA based partner of BR Public Relations to co-author the fourth edition of The Emergency Public Relations Manual.

I. Determine how a disaster can affect communications between you and the public, the news media, employees, the community and others.

II. The necessity for preparing public relations plans. The content of such public relation plans. The place for public relations plans is overall contingency planning.


III. What journalists look for when covering emergency situations. How stories are covered. The positive and the negative role of the press in relief and recovery. The need for an acceptable balance between the public’s need-to-know and the right to know and an organization’s need for secrecy in delicate situations.

IV. The analysis of public relations exposures. The problem of rumors. The making of notifications. The importance of being a good news source, exercising positive news management and maintaining a “single source philosophy.”


V. The tools and methods needed for effective crisis and disaster public relations.

VI. The special information activities necessitated by emergencies. Notification of next-of-kin, public relations liaison and referral of questions to experts.