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Planning

As with any preparedness planning project, setting up an emergency dark site involves collaboration. Invite the participation of:

The Content Team

The content team can be public health personnel and others who have knowledge of emergency response and crisis communications. These may include:

  • Public Health Leadership
  • Public Health Preparedness Staff
  • Public Information Officer (PIO)
  • Public and Risk Communications Staff
  • Local Emergency Managers

Content Team Responsibilities

  • Help to determine agency policies for emergency dark site use.
  • Determine emergency dark site activation criteria and amend existing crisis communications response plans to include activation of the emergency dark site.
  • Assemble risk communication materials to be stored on the emergency dark site.
  • Prepare a plan to periodically review and update materials stored on the emergency dark site.
  • Integrate emergency dark site activation and management into the PIO function at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and JIC.
  • Define EOC/JIC work flow to activate and use the emergency dark site during response.

The Technical Team

The Technical Team can be department/agency staff or local area vendors who know how to manage Internet networks and web sites. In larger jurisdictions, internal department or agency personnel provide technical support for all computer and web-related projects. In smaller jurisdictions, invite participation of the most knowledgeable staff person or web site manager. Technical team members may include:

  • A county, city or public health employee who has set up and currently manages the public health web site.
  • A county, city or Information Systems/Information Technology (IT/IS) staff.
  • A vendor or web designer who has set up the public health web site and provides technical assistance to the department, city or county.

Technical Team Responsibilities

  • Provide input on the dark site use policies and activation criteria.
  • Assist content managers as they set up the emergency dark site using Google Sites (or other application).
  • Determine emergency dark site owners, collaborators, and viewers and set up the site to enable the required sharing controls.
  • Prepare for activation: select a domain name, URL path/address, set up email group lists and social media features.
  • Assist in the preparation and activation of sites and pages translated into relevant local languages.

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