Clove
09-24-2010, 07:09 AM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/sep/23/nightmarish-earthquake-drill-set-san-diego/
Nightmarish earthquake drill set for San Diego
By Gary Robbins
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 7:06 p.m.
If you see a message on Twitter or Facebook Friday that says that the Coronado Bridge has broken in half or that Scripps Hospital has collapsed, don’t believe it.
It’s a test. Just a test.
San Diego State University is hosting a huge two-day earthquake drill that’s meant to explore how effective social media can be in spreading news and information about a catastrophe.
Twitter was widely used in the aftermath of the quake that killed more than 200,000 people this year in Haiti and during this summer’s deadly floods in Pakistan. Emergency planners and relief agencies wanted a closer look at how such messaging works, leading to Exercise 24, or “X24,” a drill that involves mock quakes, tsunamis, oil spills and fires.
The drill begins at 9 a.m. Friday when a test message goes out on Twitter reporting that a 9.2 earthquake has occurred. The specific message, or “tweet,” reads:
“#X24 is a TEST:not real. 9.2 earthquake hit Southern California. This is a DRILL. To participate or 4 more info go to http://bit.ly/exer24”.
That announcement will be followed by dozens of additional test messages that report on disastrous consequences, ranging from a tsunami that swamps San Diego’s North Island to shaking that breaks the commuter rail line in northern Encinitas.
SDSU and its partners also will direct the public to inrelief.org, a website the U.S. Navy operates to share humanitarian and relief news about disasters. The site will include all messages, and some stark images, including an illustration of the USS Midway washed into a building by a tsunami.
The goal is to see if the public will use the site as a clearinghouse, and how the public will respond online to the test messages.
With social media, “You get a lot of citizens who become your eyes on an event,” said Eric Frost, director of SDSU’s Immersive Visualization Center, or VizLab. “You get people reporting on not only things like a fire but a traffic accident or whether Mrs. Smith is still at the convalescent home. People come to take care of their own community rather than expecting government to do all of it. This is citizen journalism.”
X24 also is meant to give emergency responders and relief agencies practice in coming up with ways to react to catastrophes. Organizations such as the American Red Cross and the California Department of Public Health are expected to monitor inrelief.org to look for updates on the mock disasters, then plot solutions.
They’ll be dealing with a horrific scenario.
San Diego State University created this illustration of a mock 17-foot tsunami surge thrusting the carrier Midway into a building in downtown San Diego.
The drill begins with a 9.2 quake that begins in the Aleutian Islands and creates a huge tsunami that hits Southern California five hours later. The first Twitter message doesn’t correctly report the epicenter, which is not unusual in a big quake.
The event, which is being called the “Trigger Quake,” also produces a 7.2 quake nine miles off Huntington Beach that ruptures offshore oil wells, sending crude south to San Diego. Then there’s a 7.5 quake on the southern San Andreas fault, and a 7.2 quake in the Imperial Valley. A variety of the drill’s participants will post test messages on Twitter and Facebook to spread the word to the public.
It is highly unlikely that a 9.2 quake would trigger a series of big shakers in Southern California. Instead, planners wanted to give responders a lot to deal with.
“The bottom line is we’re trying to test the challenge of sharing information among diverse organizations,” said Capt. Douglas Wied of Navy Region Southwest, who helps manage inrelief.org.
The messages the public posts on Twitter and Facebook will be monitored by Buzz Manager, a North Carolina company that usually helps clients like the National Football League and Bridgestone Corp. see what people are saying about them.
“The disaster relief community has not responded adequately to social media,” said Kathleen Hessert, president of Buzz Manager. “They must be ready, willing and able to factor what’s being said online into their decision making, and to engage people.”
Considering the reading comprehension of my California clients I'm predicting this will end in disaster.
Nightmarish earthquake drill set for San Diego
By Gary Robbins
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 7:06 p.m.
If you see a message on Twitter or Facebook Friday that says that the Coronado Bridge has broken in half or that Scripps Hospital has collapsed, don’t believe it.
It’s a test. Just a test.
San Diego State University is hosting a huge two-day earthquake drill that’s meant to explore how effective social media can be in spreading news and information about a catastrophe.
Twitter was widely used in the aftermath of the quake that killed more than 200,000 people this year in Haiti and during this summer’s deadly floods in Pakistan. Emergency planners and relief agencies wanted a closer look at how such messaging works, leading to Exercise 24, or “X24,” a drill that involves mock quakes, tsunamis, oil spills and fires.
The drill begins at 9 a.m. Friday when a test message goes out on Twitter reporting that a 9.2 earthquake has occurred. The specific message, or “tweet,” reads:
“#X24 is a TEST:not real. 9.2 earthquake hit Southern California. This is a DRILL. To participate or 4 more info go to http://bit.ly/exer24”.
That announcement will be followed by dozens of additional test messages that report on disastrous consequences, ranging from a tsunami that swamps San Diego’s North Island to shaking that breaks the commuter rail line in northern Encinitas.
SDSU and its partners also will direct the public to inrelief.org, a website the U.S. Navy operates to share humanitarian and relief news about disasters. The site will include all messages, and some stark images, including an illustration of the USS Midway washed into a building by a tsunami.
The goal is to see if the public will use the site as a clearinghouse, and how the public will respond online to the test messages.
With social media, “You get a lot of citizens who become your eyes on an event,” said Eric Frost, director of SDSU’s Immersive Visualization Center, or VizLab. “You get people reporting on not only things like a fire but a traffic accident or whether Mrs. Smith is still at the convalescent home. People come to take care of their own community rather than expecting government to do all of it. This is citizen journalism.”
X24 also is meant to give emergency responders and relief agencies practice in coming up with ways to react to catastrophes. Organizations such as the American Red Cross and the California Department of Public Health are expected to monitor inrelief.org to look for updates on the mock disasters, then plot solutions.
They’ll be dealing with a horrific scenario.
San Diego State University created this illustration of a mock 17-foot tsunami surge thrusting the carrier Midway into a building in downtown San Diego.
The drill begins with a 9.2 quake that begins in the Aleutian Islands and creates a huge tsunami that hits Southern California five hours later. The first Twitter message doesn’t correctly report the epicenter, which is not unusual in a big quake.
The event, which is being called the “Trigger Quake,” also produces a 7.2 quake nine miles off Huntington Beach that ruptures offshore oil wells, sending crude south to San Diego. Then there’s a 7.5 quake on the southern San Andreas fault, and a 7.2 quake in the Imperial Valley. A variety of the drill’s participants will post test messages on Twitter and Facebook to spread the word to the public.
It is highly unlikely that a 9.2 quake would trigger a series of big shakers in Southern California. Instead, planners wanted to give responders a lot to deal with.
“The bottom line is we’re trying to test the challenge of sharing information among diverse organizations,” said Capt. Douglas Wied of Navy Region Southwest, who helps manage inrelief.org.
The messages the public posts on Twitter and Facebook will be monitored by Buzz Manager, a North Carolina company that usually helps clients like the National Football League and Bridgestone Corp. see what people are saying about them.
“The disaster relief community has not responded adequately to social media,” said Kathleen Hessert, president of Buzz Manager. “They must be ready, willing and able to factor what’s being said online into their decision making, and to engage people.”
Considering the reading comprehension of my California clients I'm predicting this will end in disaster.