Yesterday, I counted the hours I worked before and during Hurricane
Harvey and it totaled more than 100 hours in about a week. I was running on
adrenaline for sure. The long hours that you work before and during a natural
disaster like a Hurricane, a flood or an earthquake don’t end when the disaster
ends.
Residents of the local municipality that I work for are just beginning
the road to recovery and many of them will continue for the coming days, weeks
and months. Some of them lost everything. Their homes were filled with water, precious
memories soaked and floating away with the stench that Harvey brought. While
residents work to rebuild, the work of a professional communicator continues.
In most cases, you have worked double or even triple the hours you would
normally, had several sleepless nights, - maybe you even slept at your job for multiple
days. All the while, you may have experienced damage in your own home that
needs to be tended to or you may have friends and family that you need or want
to help. But, the need to provide information to your constituents remains and
probably even escalates following an event.
Following Harvey, residents want to know when their essential
municipal services will be back. Things like garbage and recycling or water,
electricity or natural gas are what they want to know about. They want to know
when facilities will reopen. “Where are there grocery stores that are open,”
one resident tweeted. These are the very things that will help them get their
lives back in order, the things that give them a semblance of normalcy. School
district PIOs are tasked with sharing key start dates for school. Hospital PIOs
are communicating about their services and which facilities are open. The list
goes on and on.
So, I
applaud the communicators out there who have given their all, but continue to
give even more. Hats off to those of you who are glued to your cell phones fielding
media calls, who have Twitter & Facebook alerts set to chime differently on
your mobile device and who can update a website in minutes of receipt of
critical information.
The event
may be over, but your work, is just beginning. The road to recovery will be
long and your constituents are depending on you.
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