Public anxiety may be heightened following a large-scale chemical incident as compared with natural disasters. Therefore, maintaining the confidence in governmental decisions and direction that was carefully built via public communication strategies during early response activities (see KPF 3, Communicate with External Partners and the Public) is a major goal. A long-term public affairs campaign that provides consistent, valuable information to both partners and the public throughout recovery regarding the areas of contamination, health risks, and timelines for remediation and reoccupation will help to reduce public anxiety and achieve this goal.
Over the long-term, successful attainment of community recovery outcomes will require community-wide understanding and “buy-in” on recovery decisions, activities, and costs. Maintenance of strong lines of communication between local officials and the public that includes robust and transparent avenues for the two-way transfer of ideas and information will be needed to reach community recovery goals. Since the health and economic welfare of affected populations are likely to be closely linked to recovery activities, these populations and the community at large must feel some “ownership” in ongoing recovery activities. For this to occur, representatives from all population segments, including local officials, business owners, response workers, healthcare workers, service providers, school officials, environmental and natural resource advocates, members of low-income communities, members of communities of color, persons with disabilities, persons with access and functional needs, older adults, and persons with limited English proficiency, must be engaged in recovery planning and decision-making.