As the WhatNow Service is rolling out globally, we propose facilitating a discussion on how to reach the last mile with localized early action messaging. The workshop will feature the New Zealand Red Cross and their collaboration with national and local stakeholders to ensure harmonized messaging. This people-centered, participatory approach enhances the capacity to disseminate effective messaging to community members across diverse media on how to prepare and respond to different disaster scenarios across several urgency levels. The workshop discussion will also draw on the experience from the American Red Cross Hurricane App and its significant uptake during Hurricane Sandy that highlighted the socio-technological linkages for early warning messaging systems.

 

Workshop Scope:

• Early Warning Early Action: Systems for EWEA are a core component of any disaster management and community resilience approach
• Process innovation: Enhanced system for collaboration and coordination on EWEA
• Reaching last mile: Building community resilience at the local level through redundant messaging systems
• Partnerships: Participatory and collaborative approaches in support of contextualization and localization of EWEA

 

Main Objectives:

• Introduce the WhatNow service as an enhanced system for multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination for early warning early action to reach the last mile
• Examine contributing factors for successful early warning early action communication on the background of the roll-out of the WhatNow service in New Zealand and the use of the Hazard app during Hurricane Sandy
• Feed into the discourse about relevant trends for EWEA affecting organization’s ability to reach the last mile