The Role of 311 and Social Media During Disasters

As Sandy pounded down on the East Coast last year, New York City and other major urban areas did their best to stay ahead of the storm and tackle the many emergency situations arising, from fallen trees to individuals trapped in their homes. But as with any major disaster, there were plenty of unforeseen problems, and plenty of room for improvement.

Particularly, cities were having problems keeping the lines of communication open so the most endangered citizens could get the help they need from a force of first responders pushed to the limits of its capacity. At the height of the storm, NYC’s 911 switchboard was receiving 20,000 calls an hour, many of which were not emergencies. The call volume led to slow response times and a lack of prioritization; there was no way to distinguish calls for downed tree branches from people in life-threatening situations. An important first step for future preparation is better educating citizens about what qualifies as a 911 call and what can be relegated to a non-emergency 311 call, an effort the city is undertaking now. NYC has been running a well-established 311 program for years now to provide a non-emergency line of communication to get faster responses from government agencies about smaller issues. However, at this moment of crisis, many were falling back on the 911 switchboard, considering it a faster and more direct way to get their problems resolved. In these efforts to encourage citizens to utilize 311 services even in the turmoil of a disaster, can we actually incentivize 311 as a more effective way to get certain kinds of problems resolved, and open up additional channels like texting and tweeting as functional reporting mechanisms?