Damage n Pleasant Grove from the April 27th Tornadoes
The predictions were issued well in advance. The forecasts were accurate. The watches went into effect long before the storms struck. Schools and businesses mostly closed. The roads cleared. People were watching and waiting. There was lots of lead time with the warnings. But still, nearly 250 people died in Alabama.
Such a death toll is unthinkable in this day of Doppler radar, the Internet, wall to wall TV coverage and smartphones. The National Weather Association Birmingham 2011 local team needs your help. Please commit to be a “block captain” for the NWA Town Hall that we will be conducting on Tuesday, October 18th at the Wynfrey Hotel. We need input from real people from all demographics to help us find ways to make the warning process work better and save lives in the future.
Two social scientists, Dr. Laura Myers from Mississippi State and Kim Klockow from Oklahoma University will select a diverse population from all the candidates that apply. That diverse group will be in attendance that night at the Wynfrey, armed with clickers that will let them answers questions about how they receive and act on weather warnings.
The responses will be viewed in real time by an audience of meteorologists, broadcasters, emergency managers and academics. This data will allow researchers to devise new and better ways to alert the public and save lives.
We especially need folks of African American and Latino descent, as well as older people and people that might not have access to computers. We need all socio-economic levels.
Please be aware that you won’t receive any compensation, but you will be part of a worthwhile project that could save lives in the future. And it promises to be a fascinating and informative evening.
YOUR COMMITMENT: We need you to commit to identifying and administering our candidate survey to five to ten people by Thursday, September 22nd that were affected by the tornadoes on April 27th. You can get them to do it online, or you can record their responses on a paper survey. Their only commitment is to be able to come to the Wynfrey on Tuesday evening, October 18th to participate in the response. If you want to be a part of this effort, email your intent to by clicking here. Be sure to include your contact information and the number of respondents you commit to secure. You will immediately receive a response with the online survey and a link to the paper survey that you can print an copy as many times as you like.
DELIVERING THE SURVEYS: You can get the respondents to do their own surveys online, you can do them online for them, you can hand them paper surveys to fill out, or you can fill out a paper survey for them. Scanned paper surveys can also be emailed to [email protected], faxed to 866.378.7116 or batched to be picked up by a volunteer next Friday.
The online survey may be accessed at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CVBV3NF
Print out as many of the printable version of the Town Hall Surveys as you need. Click here.
