Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Crisis Networking: Coming to terms with Uncertainity

The five secrets for Crisis Networking were interesting. Most of them were pretty logical and they were things I've heard talked about before. One secret stood out the most; and that was Coming to Terms with Uncertainty. I think being uncertain is what fuels a lot of the fear and the panic in people no matter what they do. Not having knowledge of what is happening and what is going to happen sparks many problems during crisis. The question was how to we do deal with it without causing anymore chaos?

Communicating information is undoubtedly the most important thing to do. Unfortunately, we live in a time when information ( news reporting more specifically) is sensationalized news. I remember headlines about the H1N1 virus and how many people were in hysterics, including my family. Luckily, i read some scientific magazine that explained that H1N1 virus was the flu but a bit of a stronger strain than the usual Flu. Was there need for such wide spread panic? Of course, influenza can be dangerous, but dangerous to whom? People were strongly encouraging to get the H1N1 flu shot. That meant even me, a healthy thirty year old woman. I decided against for the simple reason: i didn't need one. I rather there be enough flu shots for the elderly ( for whom influenza can be fatal) and/or pregnant woman ( for whom influenza can cause major effects on their unborn child). I knew as a healthy, not- pregnant, thirty year old that I would be just fine. It bother me that people would panic and not get information from credible sources like science magazines and medical journals. Reading what experts have to say in the field. This in no way means I take influenza lightly, but the information given made people think they were going to die if they caught this. If they would take the time to talk or read something from scientist or doctor i think they would have a clearer understanding.

I blame news reporting and information sharing on t.v networks whose primary purpose was to get ratings.While, the need to know about the H1N1 was vital, it was equally as vital to report without creating chaos. Not one news report, that I came across, went into to detail about who the H1N1 can effect and what it really was. Why were experts telling us to take Theraflu and vitamin C? Such a serious virus like this and that's all they suggest? Then there's something amiss with the information that the news outlets are giving us and what scientist/doctors, health providers are telling us. The uncertainty, and the inconsistency of the information was maddening. No one knew what was going on.


When considering a way to report information about influenza, i think it's important, as mentioned in the article to get an expert ( scientist, doctor,etc) to explain what the influenza virus is. I believe that giving a basic background information on the disease will enable people to understand what all this H1N1, Bird Flu, etc means in the bigger picture. Secondly, i think the information, also as stated in the article, you give some assurance what is fatal and what is not. Thirdly, using facts and statistically information as well as information about a person's background and environment puts the information in perspective. Of course, this should be done by an expert. For example; explaining why influenza took the lives of many people in small village in a third world country can have many variables such as : not enough supplies, resources money for vaccines, etc. This would surely put things in perspective. It's a shame that influenza can kill people who have no medical help or resources with modern medicine.

i guess the Coming to Terms with Uncertainty is not so much that is shocked me, but it is more of how important this one secret is in communicating as effectively as possible what is going on. I suppose it angers me how news have used such important issues to make a soap opera than reporting the facts.

This of course is all my humble opinion.

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