Post-Disaster Communication
Air Quality in East Palestine, Ohio
On February 3rd, 2023, a train derailed near East Palestine at the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The train, operated by Norfolk Southern, was carrying vinyl chloride, among other toxic and combustible materials. Chemicals were released via vent and burn to mitigate the risk of an explosion. Residents within about a one-mile radius of the site were evacuated from their homes.
East Palestine is roughly 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, PA. For our social innovation class, our group decided to tackle this problem space to see if we could provide any support to affected residents and untangle the complexities of post-disaster communication. Below are a few artifacts from this team project.
The Team
I worked with Emily Moran, Sam Colavecchio, Audrey Reiley.
Evolution of focus
Residents believed the lack of transparency from government agencies was intentional. We wanted to align with the residents of East Palestine as our central stakeholders. We looked into how transparency could be improved. Government agencies followed protocol, remaining within the bounds of what they can say and provide, which may not be enough on its own to aid people through a disaster.
Through observational research and social media, we believe an environment of mistrust develops in part due to lack of acknowledgment of personal experience. Residents saw the test results as a message that their lived experience is being denied.
While we initially believed this was a problem of information transparency, through conversations with residents and experts, we came to the conclusion that this was best framed as a problem of information accessibility.
What can we achieve? We felt we could improve communication through a document that conveyed accessible and pertinent information, allowing residents to interpret test results for themselves. It was also important that our intervention facilitated a sense of agency.
My teammate, Sam Colavecchio, created this amazing stakeholder map that illustrates the intensity of downward flow of information to residents from institutions.
Endgame
Government Adoption → Open Source
Just two months after the train derailment in East Palestine, a fire broke out in a plastics plant in Indiana. Toxic VOCs and other chemicals polluted the air.
The EPA is and will be present in every US Environmental Disaster. Though there is mistrust between local communities and government agencies, the EPA has the resources and reach to serve residents of East Palestine and future sites.
Improving accessibility of materials provides affected parties with the information they need. However, we recognize that local communities at disaster sites may distrust government agencies. For this reason, we created an open-source template that can be used by anyone to share relevant information in a digestible format.
