Brisbane City Council. January 2011 Flood Crisis Communication

Transcription

1 Brisbane City Council January 2011 Flood Crisis Communication

2 Executive Summary Situation During early January 2011, significant flooding occurred throughout Queensland resulting in three quarters of the state being declared a disaster zone. On 11 January 2011, modelling by Brisbane City Council and Bureau of Meteorology indicated more than 40,000 homes and businesses across Brisbane would be affected by flooding. Council needed to urgently communicate with Brisbane residents and businesses in the impact area, as well as the broader community. The rapidly changing situation, failure of some communication channels, power outages, isolation of some communities, and the reliance on new technology impacted the way Council communicated with external and internal stakeholders. Council s Marketing and Communication branch (M&C) devised and implemented a campaign to communicate vital flood information to the people of Brisbane. Goal To ensure the safety and wellbeing of Brisbane residents through the dissemination of relevant information in the flood event. As a result of their work, the team was successful in: Delivering critical information, including relevant Council services to Brisbane residents and businesses throughout the flood s response and recovery phases using traditional and new communication channels Achieving high satisfaction ratings for informing the public during the flood event Obtaining recognition as a trusted source for flood information.

3 There was a customer need and thirst for information delivered via social media channels and on handheld mobile devices. Social media channels were identified as a preferred communication channel for a significant number of residents and Council personnel. This needed around the clock monitoring and response. Internal communications needed to communicate necessary information with staff, whilst external marketing was required to produce traditional forms of communication including fact sheets, community newsletters, advertisements, posters and radio to name a few. Situation analysis The impending flood posed a number of challenges for Council due to the need for the dissemination of accurate information to multiple publics with differing needs. Prior to the flood peak it was projected that: up to 40,000 homes would be flood-affected the level surpass the 1974 flood height of 5.45m in the Brisbane River more than 10,000 people need to evacuate their homes and seek shelter with either family or friends, or at an Evacuation Centre it would affect an unknown number of roads, public transport services and infrastructure. As residents frantically searched for information online, the unprecedented levels of both visitor numbers and website traffic overloaded websites throughout Brisbane, including Council s website. This resulted in its failure, and the high traffic on Council s internal network also resulted in the disablement of key channels such as at various times. It was important for Council to implement alternative communication tools to reach both residents and Council personnel. At this time, access to the city and Councils primary office were also restricted requiring many communication staff to work from home. M&C s efforts were firmly focused on the impending flood and ensuring appropriate resources were available for a large-scale event. This involved all areas of the branch including media relations, internal communication, external marketing and digital communication. The communications distributed by Council were the public face of Council s response, and showed stakeholders what was being done. Public relations was integral for Council to maintain a strong and visible public image to instill public confidence at a time of extreme uncertainty. From the very beginning of the event, media relations played an integral role in Council s communication activities. An extraordinary media response to the flood occurred with hundreds of phone calls from media outlets including local, national and international media.

4 Goals and Objectives Goal To ensure the safety and wellbeing of Brisbane residents through the dissemination of relevant information in the flood event. Communication Objectives 1. To provide Brisbane residents and businesses with detailed, accurate and accessible information in a timely manner on the impact of the flood event and what actions were needed. 2. To instil confidence in Brisbane residents that Council was responding to the flood event and there was a plan in place for the recovery effort. 3. To quickly and proactively address issues as they arise and correct inaccurate information using appropriate communication channels.

5 Research The January 2011 flood event was not a campaign that could be researched for at the time, however Council s preparedness from previous natural disasters provided a solid foundation for dealing with the situations that presented themselves. Information from the field and the Local Disaster Coordination Centre (LDCC), situation reports, outcomes from the Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG) and Council meetings, modeling maps, flood information centre advice, and results from previous disaster management campaigns provided key information to inform the Brisbane-wide communication strategy. Four key issues were identified from the above sources and that were fundamental to the campaign: 1. Evacuation Centre locations and information for residents in these evacuation centres 2. Waste disposal information 3. Health and Safety information 4. Volunteering information Information pertaining to these categories was needed quickly. Audiences needing to receive this information were identified and segmented using existing tools. As the flood crisis moved from the response phase into the recovery phase during the first weekend, Council s social media channels became an increasingly important source of intelligence for volunteers and Council officers involved in the initial clean-up efforts. This information was collated from Council s Facebook and Twitter channels and forwarded through to the LDCC every hour. Feedback from volunteers on the ground revealed communication to Council via Facebook and Twitter was far more efficient and effective than via some traditional channels. This type of two-way communication provided Council with invaluable information. For example Volunteer communication that sites were clean, allowed Council to re-direct additional busloads of volunteers to other locations.

6 Target publics The campaign was intended for a broad range of publics that mostly required differing and sometimes overlapping information. Council needed to communicate and engage with identified publics, in order to provide the information required to ensure the safety and well being of Brisbane residents and businesses. It was important not to target one public with the same message and to instead segment the publics that required different information as below: General Public to communicate the impacts of the flood and action required Residents affected by flooding General resident population Residents wishing to assist with recovery operations/volunteers Business owners Commuters CBD workers Family and friends of Brisbane residents Internal to ensure staff knew to come to work if able to, support was there for staff affected by floods and Councillors were kept informed Lord Mayor s Office and Chairs Chief Executive Office Ward offices Council staff Contact Centre Partners to ensure messages were consistent across all agencies State Government/Federal Government Other local governments (via Local Govt. Assn. of Queensland) NGOs (Red Cross, Salvation Army, church groups, community groups etc) Volunteering QLD Emergency Management Organisations (Police, SES, Fire, Ambulance etc) Media (Brisbane predominantly) to communicate with the general public TV Radio Press Web (including Facebook, Twitter) Community newspapers

7 Communication Strategy A key component to the communication strategy was flexibility'. Council needed to be able to react quickly to the changing situation. At various times, this need resulted in a shift from more traditional communication channels to more digitally based ones. Brisbane s Lord Mayor was also Council s key spokesperson and was used to galvanise the community spirit. Safety and timeliness were overarching to all communication strategies which included: Ensure consistency on response and recovery messaging between Council and other agencies wherever possible Use existing channels (media portal, web channels, early warning alerts, and partner organisations) to push information on recovery effort to identified publics Use Council s internal communication channels to communicate key messages daily and encourage Council staff to disseminate information to their personal communities and networks Utilise frontline staff and non-traditional channels (eg: house-to-house drops, loudhailer vehicles, bill posting of critical info in flood affected streets, supermarkets) for critical messages for affected residents who don t have access to radio, TV, internet Pro-active media plan, turning fact sheets into feature stories for release to media and identifying case studies of real life situations where residents have used information provided by Council to assist in getting their homes/businesses cleaned up (safety/waste/etc).

8 Overview of key communication activities Channels Internet Telecommunications Media Offline Internal Website Social media Call Centre Calls Community Service Announcements Factsheets CEO Announcements Council s Corporate website s sent to registered Volunteers Facebook Mobile News websites Community Newsletters All staff s Council s temporary Website SMS sent to Registered Volunteers Twitter SMS Newspapers Posters CityLink (printed newsletter) ourbrisbane.com YouTube Council s mobile application Television Outdoor advertising Flickr Radio Living in Brisbane newsletter

9 Implementation Issue 1) Evacuation Centre locations and information for residents in these evacuation centres Location of evacuation centres When can evacuees return home? How do I return safely home? How to access essential services Electrical, gas and waste disposal information 2) Waste disposal information, including: Location of bins and skips Kerbside collection information Safety tips What to do with hazardous waste Transfer station information Insurance notes 3) Health and Safety information, including: Protective clothing in flood-affected areas Snakes and mosquitoes Hygiene advice Counselling options Look out for your neighbours 4) Volunteering information, including: Registration via Volunteering QLD/step down of needs Location and timing of mustering stations Helping your local street/community first How to donate time and/or resources Safety advice for volunteers. Recognition and thanks to volunteers Channel Distribute via: Website Social media Community Newsletters/Fact Sheets in evacuation centres Community groups and NGOs CSAs Department of Communities Distribute via: Website Social media Posters in flood affected areas, mustering centres, evacuation centres Community groups and NGOs CSAs Radio live reads Department of Communities Distribute via: Website Social media Printed copies in evacuation centres Community groups and NGOs CSAs Radio live reads Department of Communities. Internal Distribute via: Website Social media SMS and Printed copies in evacuation centres Community groups and NGOs CSAs Radio live reads Department of Communities Internal Communication Objectives 1, 2,3 1, 2,3 1, 2,3 1, 2,3

10 Results Council s Marketing and Communication Branch (M&C) implemented a highly effective public relations campaign across multiple communication channels during the Brisbane floods. Evidence of the most effective achievements of communication ensuring public safety during a time of crisis include: Outcome: Multidisciplinary and innovative approach to communications ensured wide reach of communications M&C communicated to the public across a range of mediums, including print and electronic mediums to implement an effective public relations campaign in Brisbane that also reached interstate and overseas. Achievements: highly successful use of social media, allowing Council to respond and react quickly examples include sourcing vital pieces of equipment (finding a gas burner for a stem cell patient) to coordinating a volunteer mud army to help the clean up response. trust and brand recognition survey results revealed a high percentage of customers viewed Council as a single source of truth evidenced by significant growth in Twitter followers and retweets (8.4 million Twitter impressions), likes and comments received on Facebook (4.8 million people reached during the floods, measured as post views) use of electronic mediums including s and SMS alerts to volunteers - Council sent SMS alerts to a volunteer database (approx 20,000), examples include king tide alerts and calls for a community clean-up response. highly successful community engagement campaign to coordinate volunteer response to clean up efforts enabled by timely communication electronic communication channels (social media and /sms) - On Friday 14 January around 5 pm, the Lord Mayor announced there would be Volunteering Clean-up weekend by 6 am the following morning, more than 10,000 volunteers turned up to designated points and had registered to help the community clean up efforts. Council website - at its peak received 54,000 hits per second (this was an alternative static version of the site to ensure constant access to flood info).

11 Results continued Outcome: Timely and informative communications ensuring the public remained informed at all times: This was made possible by teamwork and information sharing with internal stakeholders and external agencies. A dedicated and flexible team of professionals in M&C worked around the clock to ensure accurate, responsive, timely, high quality and targeted communication. Achievements: high volume of Community Service Announcements (120) produced across a range of outlets. diverse range of fact sheets (30) produced on topics including clean up, sandbags, library services, volunteering and the king tide eight community newsletters written and distributed to flood-affected areas two Evacuation Centre newsletters produced flood clean-up posters produced and posted on power poles throughout the city hundreds of media enquiries taken and responded to in a timely manner dedicated Crisis Communications team working 24 hours a day flood flag maps available on temporary website.

12 Social media - Facebook Facebook was used for Official information (Facebook notes) Community Service Announcements Responses to resident s questions Creation of a community volunteer group This community group was initially an official BCC channel, but after concerns over privacy and liability Council stepped back and let the community take control of the group. It is currently not seen as a Council channel by the public Facebook active users Facebook metrics during Flood event Comments on Council Facebook 17,546 Likes on Council Facebook 12,635 Likes on Council Facebook PRIOR to floods Total people reached during floods (measured as post views) 757 4,798,156 Facebook post views and feedback

13 Social media - Twitter Twitter was used for Broadcasting information (links to Facebook notes Community Service Announcements and Media Releases) Retweeting information from trusted sources (Queensland Police, Energex Bureau of Meteorology etc) Responding to questions from residents Twitter follower growth Twitter metrics Twitter activity January 2011 Tweets Sent in January 987 Followers post Flood event 8,302 Followers pre Flood event 3,003 Total number of retweets Approx 3,700 Total people reached during floods (impressions) Clicks on links posted on Facebook and Twitter (bit.ly) 8,500, ,306 NOTE: chart to be replaced with current data

14 Social media examples

15 Evaluation The standard of communication, responsiveness and commitment to keeping to the public informed ensured that Council executed a highly successful public relations campaign during the Brisbane floods. By delivering effective communication across a range of mediums predominantly on a 24/7 basis, Council s Marketing and Communication Branch was able to meet the goal of delivering timely and accurate information ensuring the well being and safety of Brisbane residents, and wider community. Evaluation of success in meeting the stated objectives: Providing residents and businesses in Brisbane with detailed, accurate and accessible information in a timely manner on the impact of the flood event and what actions were needed. Council relied on a multi-disciplinary approach to communication ensuring the public had access to targeted information including flood flag maps. Success was achieved through the fact the public (including overseas) had access to current and accurate information. Instilling confidence in Brisbane residents that Council was responding to the flood event and there was a plan in place for the recovery effort. This was achieved by producing a targeted range of Community Service Announcements in a timely manner, and liaising with credible sources (e.g. Queensland Police Service) to ensure accurate information. Council also used various communication mediums to coordinate a volunteer response to the clean-up which reassured the public that Council was doing everything possible to help Brisbane recover from the floods. Both methods were deemed successful as Council maintained a strong and visible public image to instil public confidence at a time of extreme uncertainty. Quickly and proactively addressing issues as they arise to correct inaccurate information using appropriate communication channels. This was predominantly achieved through the use of social media and achieved a substantial degree of success.