The Australian Broadcasting Corporation separates the two. Our newsroom reports and our programs on Local Radio and to an extent our 24-hour news channel News24 issue official warnings and advice, and report later. The ABC policy says emergency broadcasting consists of transmitting formal and official warnings related to an emergency event, and transmitting information provided by other sources, including listener calls and social media and recovery broadcasting. Our policy does not apply to “Staff and contractors of the ABC News Division, whose reporting of emergency events is excluded.” Local information With your role(s) defined, the next thing is to arm your people with the local information they need to respond quickly, and to understand the implications of a potential threat. This means analyzing what kind of emergency situations are likely to occur in your area, and to prepare for them. Some questions to consider: • What are the most common and likely natural disasters that strike in our area? • What kinds of crimes or emergencies tend to occur? • What are the critical structures in the area (highways, bridges, etc.)? • Are there sensitive government agencies or military installations that could be targets? • What are the risky roadways or other infrastructure elements that often are the scene of emergency incidents? • What neighborhoods/regions are home to gangs, rebel groups, etc.? Now that you’ve identified some of the more likely situations, begin to build a list of the authoritative sources - both official and unofficial - that will have useful, critical information. This includes first responders (are they on Twitter? Facebook? Can you build a list of them to have ready?), as well as local experts at universities, NGOs and government offices, and the communications leads for important agencies, companies and other organizations. Gather phone numbers, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and put everything into a central, accessible format, be it a shared database, spreadsheet or other means. Organize your contacts by the kind of situation where they might be most helpful. Building relationships Every journalist or humanitarian worker needs contacts. But it’s not just about the phone numbers and other details - it’s about the relationships. Trusted sources you know you can 87