Inured to the Message
Late April holds many significant disaster anniversaries: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; the 1912 sinking of the Titanic; the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant incident; the 1999 Columbine High School shootings; and now the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. With the intense disaster coverage by media and emergency services agencies, it’s easy to understand why many people are simply inured to disaster-threat messages, and why they often hear emergency preparedness messengers as the harbingers of doom. We need to find a way to speak about preparedness that will make a difference. Practice sharing your preparedness message without relying on the threat of impending disasters to motivate action. When you can articulate your message from a variety of perspectives, it can be welcomed and actually heard.
