No buddy comedies or “chick flicks” on this movie night. It was a Date with Disaster.
But instead of “Contagion” or “Deep Impact,” the movies screened hit closer to home: disaster preparedness videos on the silver screen, courtesy of the Harris County, Texas Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HCOHSEM).
It rented the biggest movie theater at a multiplex located in a hurricane surge zone, a 500-seater. In addition to hurricane readiness videos, attendees heard from experts on wildfires — which threatened the county earlier this fall — and were able to interact with emergency responders. Outside in the parking lot emergency vehicles were on display, including a Coast Guard boat, hazmat vehicles and a new regional ambulance that can accommodate 20 patients.
Francisco Sanchez, a spokesman for the office, said the Date with Disaster event was a chance to take their traditional preparedness message and “kick it up a notch.”
Photo courtesy of Harris County, Texas
Harris County, Texas’ Date with Disaster movie night includes an expo of emergency-response vehicles and personnel in the parking lot of the movie theater where disaster-preparedness videos were screened.
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“We’re trying to find new ways to be creative, to be innovative and to really engage the public in a more entertaining way — so that they’re willing to prepare for disaster,” he said, “preferably long before the need for them to use those skills comes into play.” A wildfire recovery video got “a lot of traction.” Recent wildfires in neighboring counties raised awareness of a new kind of threat to an area more known for its vulnerability to hurricanes.
“It’s easy to talk about hurricanes here; it’s easy to talk about hazmat incidents,” Sanchez added, “but we really had not experienced this level of drought and this level of wildfires in this kind of an urban area. It was new to folks.”
Sanchez said the emergency management office gave about 240 community outreach presentations last year — at public events, business and civic association meetings — but was looking for a new way to engage residents with a “more entertaining” experience. The county’s emergency operations center was activated about 40–50 times last year.
To connect with kids, the evening also featured a skit by three super-hero-costumed Ready Heroes. Mac Planner, Kit Builder and Stu entertained and educated with a 12-minute performance including an original song with a readiness theme.
The event cost just shy of $3,000, Sanchez said, which included the theater rental and purchase of Red Cross readiness kits that were distributed to the audience.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett kicked off the event and introduced the first video, “Are You Ready?” a 15-minute DVD that is part of the region’s preparedness toolkit. It offers advice that is useful in any type of disaster or emergency, regardless of the hazard.
“Harris County is committed to educating the residents and businesses in our area about the importance of disaster preparedness,” Emmett said. “Keeping our community safe depends on the involvement of every individual.”
The event, held late last month, was publicized through social media, news releases and traditional media outreach. About 250 people attended at a venue where regular commercial movie releases were also being shown. The “disaster daters” also had access to all the usual theater amenities and could buy tubs of popcorn and multi-liter sodas from the concession stand.
“The level of interest actually surprised us, they said, ‘Can you bring this to my community to a theater close to us?’” Sanchez said. “And so we’re looking now at how do we take lessons learned from this event, create a better event and make it something that we can take on the road.” Harris County comprises 7,700 square miles and has a population of 4.1 million.
The event could easily be adapted to any part of the country, he added.
“If you have a video or a series of videos that you can borrow, it’s a model you can use anywhere,” Sanchez said. “We chose a prime theater, in a prime location and the biggest space available. Anyone who wants to replicate that can certainly downsize that to something that’s appropriate to their community.”