The lead US federal disaster agency is hoping to both inform and gather information through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, its top official said Wednesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sharply criticized for its slow response to events like the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, is trying to make sure people are better prepared for disasters, said administrator Craig Fugate.
Fugate, who took over the job six months ago, has been emphasizing high-tech methods to communicate with the public. FEMA was among the first federal agencies to open a Facebook page, and Fugate writes Twitter messages under the name "craigatfema."
"In a disaster, the public gives us tremendous information," said Fugate, who urged all Americans to develop an emergency communication plan as well as a family disaster plan.
During a hurricane or an earthquake telephone services may be disrupted, so people trying to reach friends and relatives need to find alternative forms of communication. One solution is to use a social networking site like Facebook, he said.
Fugate recently spoke to the Random Hacks of Kindness, a group that gathers disaster relief experts and software engineers — sponsored by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, NASA and the World Bank — and urged them to develop an application that could send emergency messages to multiple outlets.
Before taking over FEMA, Fugate was Florida's emergency manager between 2001 and 2009. His office, which coordinated disaster preparations and responses, handled several hurricanes, including hurricanes Dennis, Karina and Wilma in 2005.
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