Crisis communication is the exchange of information within and between crisis response organisations and stakeholders. Two elements are always present as structuring and interconnected factors: Time and space . Here, we describe the exchange of geographic information between responders in crisis response exercises and the importance of this type of communication in timely solving the task at hand.
All events are structured in time and represents causality. In emergency response, time represents urgency. All events will also have a spatial location. Spatial overview can be defined as having knowledge of the location and spatial extent of any event that needs responding to, and at the same time control of both available resources and response time. A lack of spatial information will lead to lack of control, where the responder will know neither where events take place, the distribution of resources, or the time it will take to assist those in need.
Since 2011, Mittuniversitetet and Nord University have cooperated in arranging and taking part in emergency response exercises across the counties Jämtland (Sweden) and Trøndelag (Norway). During these exercises, we have recorded communication between participants and analysed the content of this communication. This presentation reports some of the results.