Hurricane Maria Project
Information Providers Interview Guide for:
“Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today. We are interested in your perspective on information and communications related to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. We would like to better understand this hurricane because it impacted a non-continental and Spanish-speaking U.S. island. Ideally, these interviews will lead to beneficial recommendations to policy, procedures, and codes. We realize that the hurricane was a few years ago, and some details may not readily come to mind. We will try to walk you through different topics and events to aid your memory, but let us know if you need any clarifications. Please know that there are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions, we just want to understand your perspectives and experience. Your responses will never be linked to your individual identity, instead, findings will be attributed to a “Hurricane Information Provider” at the national, commonwealth, regional, or local level, and will only be shared in aggregate detail. Are you ready to begin?”
Required Script for Paperwork Reduction Act:
“A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with an information collection subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 unless the information collection has a currently valid OMB Control Number. The approved OMB Control Number for this information collection is 0693-0078. Without this approval, we could not conduct this information collection. Public reporting for this information collection is estimated to be approximately 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the information collection. All responses to this information collection are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this information collection, including suggestions for reducing this burden to the National Institute of Standards and Technology at: Katherine Johnson, Social Scientist and National Construction Safety Team Member, NIST Engineering Laboratory; or contact at katherine.johnson@nist.gov.”
Section A: Background Questions
Please describe to us the position you held in the days prior to Hurricane Maria.
How long had you held that position?
What were your primary roles and duties in your position with regard to informing or communicating about hurricanes?
Who are the groups or individuals you are responsible for communicating too? We will refer to these people in further questions as your “stakeholders”.
Before Hurricanes Irma and Maria, can you briefly describe any previous experiences you’ve had with hurricanes?
Section B. Pre-hurricane Preparation and Plans
Thinking back, do you know if there were any pre-hurricane emergency plans regarding evacuation decisions and communication in use prior to Hurricanes Irma and Maria?
Follow-up (if any are discussed): Can you please provide them to NIST? If not, please describe the plans.
In the year prior to Hurricanes Irma and Maria, what training was performed or education available (for the public) on hurricanes, hurricane preparedness and hurricane response?
Section C. Hurricane Data and Situational Awareness
Next, we would like to discuss where your information about Hurricane Maria came from.
Thinking of the days leading up to Hurricane Maria making landfall on Puerto Rico, could you summarize the information, data, and products you / your office received as time went on related to Hurricane Maria related to Puerto Rico?
Were any kind of Decision Support Services delivered to you (e.g. e-mail blast, online multimedia videos, webinar/conference calls) from the National Hurricane Center, WFOs, the media, or others?
Do you remember a point at which you thought Hurricane Maria would be different than other storms or significant in any way? What led you to that conclusion?
Section D. Evacuation and Decision-Making
Next, please take us through how you used this information and your knowledge and experience to make evacuation or sheltering decisions before and during the hurricane. Who decided which areas had to evacuate; and how (and when) was this decision was made?
Follow-up: How were these decisions made/ by whom? (And were these policies set in advance?; were they followed?)
Follow-up: When were these decisions made, and based upon what information (e.g. watches or warnings? Certain information or graphics?)
Follow-up: What (and/or who) influenced your decisions to instruct the public on specific protective actions (e.g., evacuation or shelter in place)?
Please discuss what role different NWS or NHC products played in your decision-making regarding which and when areas should evacuate (E.g., Watches, warnings, or Decision Support Tools such as HURREVAC, HURRTRAC, decision arcs, zone maps, surge maps, etc.)
Follow-up: How did these products/models perform, and which were most helpful? (i.e., were they accurate, timely, available, and/ or if they provided the information that you needed to make decisions).
Could anything have been said or provided to you that could have changed your decisions, or helped to make them more easily?
Section E. Communication
The next set of questions is about how you communicated information about the Hurricane Maria to the public, before the storm hit:
First, please walk us through you/ your office’s communication process leading up to Hurricane Maria making landfall. Specifically, over time how did you communicate updates, alerts, or warnings about the storm to the public, and how were these decisions made?
Follow-up (if not discussed): Please describe the timeline of these updates and warnings/alerts up until and through the day Hurricane Maria made landfall.
Follow-up: During the course of the hurricane, what alerting or warning channels did you use to disseminate information about the storm or evacuation notices to different groups? And why did you use the ones you did? (e.g., outdoor sirens, press briefings, in-person, social media, EAS, wireless emergency alerts to people’s mobile phones, 3rd party alert/warning systems, etc.)?
Follow-up: Did social media play a role in disseminating weather information?
Follow-up: What is the policy for sounding the sirens? Severe storms, tornadoes only, other types of events, high winds?
Follow-up: Who was/what agencies were involved in making decisions on what to say and when to say it?
Regarding the content of public warning messages specifically, what did they say?
Follow-up: Were alert or warning messages prepared ahead of time (e.g., as templates) or written from scratch during the hurricane?
Follow-up: Were warning messages all provided in Spanish, English or a combination of the two languages?)
In your perspective, how consistent was the disseminated information related to Hurricane Maria throughout the weather community (i.e. NHC, WFOs, meteorologists)? Do any ways stick out to you in which they were meaningfully similar or different?
Overall, did you encounter any problems or challenges with information dissemination to the public before or during Hurricane Maria? If yes, please explain.
The next set of questions is about how you communicated information about the Hurricane Maria to the public after the storm hit:
After Hurricane Maria had passed, how did you communicate with the public and other emergency officials? (Prompt: please discuss technology and processes)
Did you encounter any issues in providing emergency communications to the public (after Hurricane Maria hit PR)? If so, how did you overcome these barriers (directly after the storm, and over time)?
Follow-up: When did communication technologies (radar, satellite, other communications) come back online?
Section F. Inter-agency Coordination
Reflecting back on the hurricane, how well do you think communication and inter-agency coordination (if any) worked between the NHC and different information-providers involved (e.g. WFOs, SERFC, WPC, and OPC, EM’s, the media, and the public)?
Can you please describe one or two specific examples of communication success between particular organizations, describing what worked well and why?
Can you think of one to two examples when communications did not work well, or difficulties that you or coworkers/staff/ or colleagues encountered? Please identify what did not work well (e.g. procedures, systems, personnel, etc.).
What do you think could be done to improve on these problems?
In your perspective, how consistent was information related to Hurricane Maria as it was disseminated throughout the weather community (i.e. NHC, WFOs, meteorologists)?
Do any key issues seem important to improve effective communication?
Section F. Evacuation Process
[For those involved in evacuation process – e.g. National Guard or Municipal Police]
The next set of questions has to do with evacuations.
Who led or coordinated the evacuation efforts?
Follow-up: If not one person or agency, which individuals/agencies were in charge of different efforts?
In general, how did the evacuations go? What worked and what didn’t work?
Follow-up (if no response): What worked well during the evacuations?
Follow-up (if no response): Were there any obstacles or unforeseen problems? If so, please describe.
What might have been some of the barriers to evacuation across the island or in particular locations? What could have been done differently, if anything?
Section G. Storm Shelters
[For those involved in the sheltering process]
The next set of questions has to do with shelters made available before and during Hurricane Maria.
How was information/updates communicated to people inside the shelter before, during and after the storm?
Overall, how did the sheltering process go? What worked and what didn’t work?
Follow-up (if no response): What worked well related to the shelters?
Follow-up (if no response): Were there any obstacles or unforeseen problems? If so, please describe. What could have been done differently, if anything?
Section H. Public Perceptions
The next set of questions have to do with methods of communicating with the public.
In your opinion, what was the best way to reach the public in PR (e.g., information channels) both prior to and during Hurricane Maria?
Follow-up: Were there particular radio or TV stations in PR that were more popular than others?
Section I. Ending Questions
We’re almost finished with the interview. We just have a few last questions.
Since Hurricane Maria, were there any new procedures, guidelines, or policy changes that have been developed and/or implemented relating to hurricane products, communication, and/or interagency coordination? Can you describe these changes or share with us any updated products?
If you were to go through an experience like Hurricane Maria again, is there anything you would suggest for yourself or others do differently? Can you explain why and how?
Are there any new products, rules, or services that would aid in the changes you would suggest? If so, which ones (and how would they be used)?
Before we go, is there anyone else whom you think we should reach out to for an interview on these topics? (e.g., someone influential in communicating hurricane risks, forecasts, etc. to the public)
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us that we didn’t already discuss?
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