In crises, communication is the key

Gati, Tej, Murasu, Aag are some of the 169 tropical cyclones that are likely to emerge over the Indian Ocean in the coming years. After super cyclone Amphan hit the east coast in May 2020, it was the turn of cyclone Yaas a year later in May, 2021. While both caused widespread devastation, it is disconcerting to learn that other cyclones are brewing in the warm waters of the Bay. Indeed, a list maintained by Weather Underground suggests that 26 of the 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in recorded history have occurred here.

Halfway around the world over 16,000 kilometres from Bengal, in the Amazon rain forests, large-scale deforestation in the 1990s and 2000s made the Brazilian rainforest lose more than 20,000 square kilometers, almost the size of Meghalaya, every year. Neighboring China emitted more than a quarter of the world’s carbon-di-oxide in 2019.

The year 2020 ranked as the second-warmest year in the 141-year record for the combined land and ocean surface. Who can say for sure which of these caused the cyclones in our backyard?

As Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect point out, the butterfly may flap its wings in Brazil or China, but it can potentially stir a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. As global warming intensifies, the trough-shaped Bay of Bengal has become one of the world’s most tempestuous stretches of water. It is also the largest bay in the world - 500 million people live on the coastal rim that surrounds it – it is also the site of some of the deadliest tropical cyclones in history.

For people, governments and businesses, natural disasters are unpredictable and hugely disruptive. And as Covid-19 pandemic has also shown, transparency and good communication are often the key to manage the crises better. CESC, the 122-year-old utility company responsible for electricity supply in Kolkata and Howrah, is a case in point.

It took a direct hit from super cyclone Amphan in May 2020, which battered the city with wind speeds of over 190 kilometers per hour. Almost a year later, it braced for cyclone Yaas. But its communication on these two occasions was vastly different.

Amphan hit the power distribution infrastructure in Kolkata. Poles were uprooted, trees fell snapping power cables on water-logged streets, increasing risks of electrocution and prevented repair work, resulting in large swathes of the city going without power for days.

What was even worse was that communication broke down. Frantic phone calls from desperate citizens went unanswered. When Victoria House, CESC's headquarters in Kolkata, finally communicated, it was robotic, matter-of-fact, and devoid of empathy. As restoration of power supply became the priority, the organization’s messaging to its consumers or the absence of it was criticised harshly– an experience it is unlikely to forget soon.

But the valiant efforts of CESC employees working relentlessly for days on end to restore power went largely unsung. Very few came to know that these teams were working without worrying about personal safety or their families, who were equally suffering from the aftermath of the cyclone. It was their matchless commitment to consumers that most of the city could switch on their lights and fans, in less than seven days of the storm. A similar situation in New York in 2011, when Hurricane Sandy pummeled Big Apple, had left the metropolis without power for over two weeks.

***

So, when cyclone Yaas unleashed its fury, the company was better prepared to face the onslaught. It adopted transparent and proactive communication with all its stakeholders, shoring up its field force to be deployed at a moment’s notice and ensuring that enough supplies of fuel, spares and essential backup material were available to maintain business continuity.

Regular communication was conducted with the administration. Real-time communication channel was established with IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) for weather updates. Separate WhatsApp groups were created for communication with IMD, local police stations and municipal bodies etc. All channels of communication from mobile phones to social media to press and television were kept posted of all details of readiness without triggering an alarm. The communication was timely, transparent, credible, and compassionate – a fantastic example of lessons well learned.

It undertook proactive maintenance and inspection of its distribution networks, ensured that measures to prevent electric shocks were taken. Special attention was paid to ensure uninterrupted supplies to the city’s hospitals and healthcare infrastructure, as they were wrestling with the Covid19 crisis, vaccine cold-chain points were double-checked to prevent any outage. Manpower, especially field force, was ramped up and kept in a state of high alert to be rushed into handling any crisis. Enough raw materials and coal were stored to maintain the supply chains. In fact, nothing was left to chance.

The pandemic has shown us remarkable instances of public communication in both extremes. While the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States, kept up a steady stream of communication backed by scientific evidence and data, countries like China battened down on all channels of information. In fact, there is a Fauci effect as a number of US colleges and universities have seen a surge of students who say the COVID-19 crisis inspired them to pursue the public health field, and crisis communication in particular.

The authenticity of communication is a vital element in getting everyone on the same page. We have seen examples of how apparently brilliant communicators like the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, made a powerful impact with his daily press briefings on how the Big Apple was handling the pandemic but faltered at the finish line when it was exposed that he had failed to reveal the actual number of deaths.

As natural disasters, calamities, pandemics, health crises, adverse economic events become more disruptive, governments and organizations need to have robust crisis management and business continuity plans in readiness.

The most successful crisis communication strategies begin with owning up that there is a problem, showing the face of the leadership in charge of the situation, and giving regular updates on what is being done to correct it. Also letting people know that lessons from the crisis are being learnt and steps taken to prevent recurrence of mistakes.

Above all, people will appreciate and reward empathy. Let us not forget that social media has transformed communication for all times to come, every person with a smartphone is a powerful communicator. This is a double-edged weapon and like any technology, governments and enterprises must learn how to leverage it.

(The writer is a communication specialist. Views are personal)