Crisis
Communication:
A case
study of Greensburg, Kansas
Friday, May 4 was a day like any other spring day for the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, population 1500. The school year was winding down and students and staff were looking forward to a busy weekend. No one had any idea of the impending tragedy.
At 9:38 p.m., tornado sirens pierced the air. Residents had only minutes to take shelter in basements and storm sellers. The F5 tornado was 1.7 miles wide. It moved slowly -- staying on the ground for 10 excruciating minutes.
When residents emerged into the darkness, all they could see was total destruction. Ninety-five percent of the town was destroyed.
Greensburg High School teacher, Marshall Ballard, lives 10 miles east in Haviland. As the English and journalism teacher, he is also responsible for the school district's website.
"We didn't have a [crisis communication] plan," said Ballard.
However, what they did have was a web-based content management system called SOCS that allows users with password access to post articles from any location with a computer and Internet.
When the news reports started coming in, Ballard tried to drive to Greensburg, but the roads were already blocked. Some Greensburg residents were bused to the Haviland High School.
"It was chaotic," explained Ballard "It wasn't until 2:30 or 3 before I saw my first high school kid." By 3 a.m., a mandatory evacuation was ordered and more people started pouring in.
Eventually, the residents were placed in surrounding towns with family and friends. "I figured that wherever they were put, they could get access to the Internet," said Ballard.
In the early morning hours of May 5, he posted his first article entitled, "Just Pray!!!" from his home computer. It was more than a plea for help. His purpose was to post emergency contact information. At that time, it was the Haviland High School phone number. Friends and family had to call that number to locate love ones.
The superintendent, principal, guidance counselor and other staff members were all residents of Greensburg. The media began making demands on Superintendent Darin Headrick at a time when he needed to focus on his family and the needs of the school district.
"During a town meeting, he [Superintendent Headrick] hung up on the White House ... twice," Ballard said.
Ballard became the communication life line filtering information to and from the district and posting updates on the website. His cell phone number was posted as the district contact number. In the first few weeks he had over 200 text messages.
Although school was cancelled for the rest of the year, events like golf tournaments and graduation still went on. Ballard continued to post articles on their website providing meeting places, donation updates and schedules.
Another form of communication came from the article feedback feature on SOCS. Readers can post comments to an article, and once reviewed and approved, these comments are posted for all viewers to read.
Ballard had feedback turned on his first two articles. From across the nation, people offered up prayers, donations and personal stories. Over 120 comments were posted. They were coming in faster than Marshall could approve them.
"That wasn't even all of them," said Ballard. "Some of them were just, 'Where do I send food,' or '... clothes.'" Ballard chose not to post these comments. Instead another article was posted directing donations to the Greensburg Future Fund.
Ballard continues to update displaced residents by posting articles on their website. School started August 15. Portables are set up on the former school site.
"The plumbing and parking are already there," Ballard explained. "Besides the kids are all displaced; they want to go to school in Greensburg."
Ballard said one of the smartest things they did was switch from a static, html-based website hosted on the schools' servers to SOCS, a news-style, content management system web-hosted by FES. Although their servers did survive the massive destruction and all the students' information was retrieved, they would not have been able to maintain a website without a web-hosting service.
"With SOCS, I had access to our website from my house," said Ballard. "If we had all of it on one computer at the school, we would have been up a creek."
The Greensburg USD 422 website is at www.usd422.org.
