Using Sense-Making and Coorientation to Rank Strategic Public Communication in State Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs)

This study employs sense-making and coorientation theories to evaluate public communication in current emergency response planning in the United States. It employs a two-stage content analysis to evaluate and rank all available state emergency operations plans [EOPs] from among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study concludes that: (1) only D. C. and New Mexico achieved the top score of 8 on our 1–8 scale with Ohio scoring a 7; (2) 22 jurisdictions do not have a state EOP, withhold the plan on security grounds (two states) or make it difficult for even trained researchers to gain access; and, (3) all the 29 states with available EOPs make provision for public communication but only 16 make either explicit or implicit provisions for two-way public communication. Thus, while most Americans will have access to some important state level information during emergencies many may not, and most will have no channel designed to allow them to ask for the information they feel they need.