Interviewed in the Statesman Journal!

On Monday, April 5th, I had an interview for the Statesmen Journal published on page 6C. The interview is about how OEM tries to educate the public on being prepared for emergencies.

An excerpt from the interview:

Q: Is it difficult to straddle the line between urging people to plan intelligently and scaring people?

A: It is difficult. I talk to schools and some parents have said, "We don't want you to talk to our kids because you're going to scare them." But if you think about it, how long did it take the fire department to get fire drills in school? How many fire drills do you have in a school during the year, and nobody thinks anything about it. It doesn't scare the kids. I've got to get there with emergency kits.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104050311

I want to put the question to you, my readers. What kind of message do you think would be effective in communicating the importance of preparation to the public without scaring them? How can we get people thinking about disaster preparation in a meaningful way?

If you have a good idea, email it to me at jbailey@oem.state.or.us and I will present those ideas here on the blog.