Emergency Management and the Attention Cycle

I'm planning on this being the topic for my article in the upcoming newsletter, so I guess our blog readers will be getting a sneak peak.

There was an article that I remember reading during my first semester of Graduate school discussing the attention cycle of the American public when it comes to most domestic and foreign policy issues.  The article outlined a five stage process that which the public goes through in relation to any particular issue:

• Stage 1: The Pre-Problem- where people are aware of the problem but generally disregard it.
  
• Stage 2: Alarmed Discovery- where people who were aware of the problem, now see that it is something that needs to addressed (i.e. 9/11 & Katrina).
  
• Stage 3: Awareness of the costs of making significant progress- this is the stage where people see price tags on all of the programs that were implemented to address the problem.
  
• Stage 4: Interest gradually fades- there are two camps in this stage, camp A is the one that becomes bored with the amount of time a "fix" takes.  Whereas camp B just gets bored and moves onto something else.
  
• Stage 5: The post problem stage- this is where we find the majority of Homeland Security and Emergency Management at today.  Trudging along doing the business of the business.

Now granted, while this article strictly dealt with Homeland Security and winning the war on terror it can just as easily be applied to Emergency Management and Emergency Preparedness.  It is difficult for people to understand why they need to prepare themselves for a disaster.  "That only happens to other people" or "that will never happen here" or my favorite "we've already been through the worst".  The previous three comments combine stages one and four.  The public is aware of a potential problem, but their interest in preparing for it is gradually fading.  

Unfortunately for us, as well as all Emergency Management professionals, as we put more months between the present and Hurricane Katrina, the vast majority of citizens will forget how important it is to be prepared in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.  That is why it is imperative for all Emergency Management professionals to use every available media to make sure their citizens are properly prepared.