Communication Challenges Essay

Introduction 

Communication is a two-way traffic. It is a process of relaying information to the intended recipient as well as the response from the recipient. For communication to be effective there ought to be some important things involved. These are, the sender who relays the information, the recipient who encodes the message and gives feedback and lastly the medium in which that particular communications are relayed. This essay will be discussing the communication challenges that law agencies faced during terror attack on the twin tower of 9/11. It will also discuss both the internal challenges and the external challenges. It will as well handle the consequences of such problems and analyze them. Lastly but not least, it will discuss the steps taken to address these problems. The essay will be discussing earthquakes in the US as a form of disaster. It will discuss the 9/11 events in particular that led to loss of lives due to communication breakdown. 

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 Communication Challenges in the events of 9/11

Normally, during emergencies like terror attacks for instance, there are myriads problems in relation to communication that the agencies face. This is because it is something that has abruptly happened and may be it got the residents unaware. The following are some of the challenges faced by the communication agencies in in the 9/11 events:

There were serious communication breakdown in the 9/11. The announcements to the civilians to evacuate the building were hampered during this event.  The emergence call for rescue was also put on hold for several times. The delays caused made many lives to be lost in the event. In fact, the 911 emergence operators are said to have been unaware of what was happening at the twin towers during the attack. For this reason, they were overwhelmed by sheer volume of calls. 

There was also conflicting information on this fateful day. There were people who were being told to go back to their offices, which caused some of them to perish including the deputy fire director of the south tower. In addition, the 911 emergence operators did not know where the rescue plane was because there was miscommunication between them and those in the plane. Therefore, they would not give exact directions on where the people would go and get the plane as it was not clear whether they were above or below the fire (Ortmeier & Meese, 2010, p. 28). 

Interoperability was normally a major challenge between the communication agencies during the rescue. In fact some sometimes there was no any kind of communication at all as everything that came out was confusing. It was seen that once there was a terror attack, there are so many respondent that arrived on time to aide those under attack and maybe rescue the survivors. In cases of emergence, communication is normally hampered between those on the site in attempt to rescue the victims. The communication between the responding agencies are hindered by infective and inefficiency radio system that does not allow interagency communication. 

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Redundant communication system also posed a challenge at this time. This is because they may have collapsed during the event and thus damaged. A major challenge that the respondent faced during disasters was how to communicate to the public. It is important that in accidents like earthquakes, the public be given some instructions on what to do and what not to do. They need to get instructions on how to escape from the scene or where to go through. Actually this is a major challenge that most of respondents in the site do face in attempt to rescue those at the problem. As a result, many people lose their life. 

Consequences of communication breakdown

There are myriad consequences that occur as a result of communication breakdown in cases of emergence like the 9/11 for instance. People got confused on what to do at that time. This led to may deaths inside the tower. Delayed response from the 911 emergence operators made more losses to be incurred in the tower. The miscommunication between the 911 emergence operators and the plane rescue team that was delayed resulted too many losses of property and life. When the south tower had collapsed, the firefighters were told to evacuate the place but they did not hear that communication. The reason being, the radio channel they were using were overwhelmed and they were on another channel. At the same time, some of the firefighters ignored the call because they were helping the victims out of the tower. As a result, to all these many people perished in that tower (Ortmeier & Meese, 2010, p. 58). 

It is important to note that terror attacks also lead to economic breakdown. Most of the economic activities in areas that have been attacked by terrorists are normally affected. The infrastructures where terrorism has occurred are normally destroyed like the twin tower. The buildings collapse; the roads are at times filled with debris making them inaccessible. Since the roads are normally blocked, the suppliers cannot access the market as well as those in demand cannot access the produce. 

All the incidences that occur during and aftermath of a terror attack are majorly hindered by communication. Communication is key in any situation especially where emergence issues are to be handled (In Sorrells & In Sekimoto, 2015, p. 21). 

Steps that were taken to address the problem

The 9/11 event has led to some precautions that are to be put in place to avoid future risks of property and life loss. There has been emphasis on the commission to streamline their focus on the intelligence on the domestic security preparedness in cases of disasters occurrence. There were several installations of the radio repeaters in the building just to improve the communication. These radio repeaters were to improve on the communication between the rescue workers and the victims. To curb the problem of power loss during emergencies like the one 9/11, batteries were installed in the tower to act as emergence lights. There were trainings of the workers on fire drills. They were to be trained on how to behave and handle an emergency like this one of the 9/11 in case it happened again in future (In Sorrells & In Sekimoto, 2015, p. 45).   

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Conclusion

There are so many lessons that can be derived from the 9/11 accident at the twin towers. First it is important to note that, no one should feel safe because his or her home is removed from the list of areas where possible terror attack are expected to occur in the future. In addition, there is need to carry out intelligence in all places deemed vulnerable to risks of terror attacks are highly expected. There should be future planning efforts to help predetermine the possibility of the risks. The government ought to collaborate with other agencies in predetermining the future occurrence of these risks so that their effects and occurrence can be reduced if not mitigated. There ought to be a combined effort between states and the private sector to reduce the loss of lives and property in terror attacks. There should be sensitization of the public on the need to motivate key decision makers in the economy to minimize risks that are associated to terrorism. This will also help to foster productive connections between the intelligence departments, business owners and the state to improve on the preparedness of terror attacks.