Margerum, RichardMorey-Collins, Jessica2021-05-052021-05-052019https://hdl.handle.net/1794/2622964 pagesCommunication failures during the 2018 water advisory crisis revealed an opportunity to enhance hazard communications in Marion County. This report explores those opportunities, focusing on communications and communications planning that occurs during the preparation and mitigation phases of hazard management. Research activities included document review, twelve (12) stakeholder interviews, and GIS analysis. Research revealed that a diverse range of communicators, across several scales of governance, share information across a wide variety of platforms. These platforms range from high-tech multimedia, to in-person meetings. While communicators share the same target audiences, as well as an all-hazards approach to communicating, they diverge in their rhetorical approaches. Emergency Management professionals favor a range of persuasive techniques, including both narrative and fact-based communications, whereas Public Health and Public Information professionals expressed caution with using story-telling to encourage hazard preparation and mitigation activities. All professionals discussed using the federal Incident Command System (ICS) to coordinate communications across agencies, and many speculated that there is an opportunity to better leverage ICS by convening communicators early to maximize lead-time on messaging. Most interviewees also discussed the benefits and pitfalls of using community liaisons to convey messaging to limited English-speaking populations. Based on these findings, Marion County might consider taking the following actions: (1) Prioritize funding for hiring and training community advocates at an hourly rate; (2) Link seasonal hazard awareness campaigns to pre-scheduled community events; (3) Facilitate a dialogue between public health, public information, and emergency management professionals to integrate narrative and fact-based communication styles; (4) Develop and regularly update template text to use following crises; (5) Identify opportunities to practice ICS roles during routine operations, or in response to chronic hazards; (6) Ensure that public health and public information professionals are represented at monthly meetings; (7) Adopt multi-modal communication tactics to ensure audiences clearly understand informationen-USCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USMarion County (Or.)Hazard ManagementCommunicationsPublic InformationCommunity OutreachTerminal Project