Why Analog Matters in a Digital World: Post-Helene Recovery Efforts

This is a story of how we have put our faith in technology and a digital age to the point that we forgot what happens when technology fails. I am hoping the lessons we learn from Helene can be used as a roadmap by community and business leaders in the future to create more effective rescue, relief and recovery plans.

We have come to rely heavily on social media for our news and for communication. According to a recent Pew Research study over half of U.S. adults (54%) say they at least sometimes get news from social media, and about a third regularly get their news from YouTube and Facebook.

Governments (and companies) have come to rely on these outlets – what was once fringe has now become mainstream. And social media provides timely information to those who need it during a crisis.

But what happens when ….?

I remember fighting my C-level executive for funding for backup tape and hard drives when I was an IT director back in the 1990’s – 2000’s. Why do we need to spend thousands of dollars when everything worked? Their fallacy was thinking tech never failed, it always worked – because it always had. Just press a button and it works. My way of winning them over was reminding them of the last time they (or their spouse/kids) got a flat tire, or when their car battery died – how did it affect them?

We all put on blinders. Everything works – until it doesn’t. And without proper planning the effects can be catastrophic. Like we are seeing with Helene and in the City of Asheville.

“The medium is the message” – Marshall McLuhan

Predicting how devastating Helene could be was impossible. There were predictions and concerns, especially with the intense low-pressure systems and storms that hit Western North Carolina on Wednesday through Thursday before Helene reached land. The land was already saturated and waterways full prior to Helene hitting.

Our civic leaders had been through situations like this before and had emergency plans in place for natural and manmade disasters. Everyone was ready. Rescue, relief and recovery plans were put into place.

What if there is no medium?

I remember a scene in the 1997 Kevin Kline movie “In & Out” where Shalom Harlow’s character had to use a rotary phone – and tries pushing the holes to dial! 27 year later, we have become a country so engrossed in social and digital media that we do not know how to live without our tech. What did we do before cellphones iTunes, Kindles, iPads, streaming media and Wi-Fi on planes?

We used to keep a landline in our home in Florida “just in case” – because phone lines had never gone down in our 40+ years in Ft. Lauderdale even when power went off for days/weeks. How many people still have landlines? Even most cities and emergency services have IP based phones, which rely on the Internet and power.

Unfortunately, we are finding out the hard way what happens when recovery plans do not include the unthinkable – either because we feel tech is always there/cannot fail/will not fail. Or for budgetary reasons.

Asheville’s disaster recovery plan failed because it relied solely on digital media: spreading the word via TV, radio, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and then having other media repeating the message to get the word out – the 2024 version of the telephone game we used to play.

No medium, no message – just media.

The city went to sleep concerned, it woke up to panic and mayhem. We could endure the wind – but the water, the floods were unstoppable.

And then the power lines, water pumping stations, cable companies, internet providers and cell towers went down. Cell phones could get text and sometimes phone service but rarely Internet. Cell towers that were active were overwhelmed and could not handle all the traffic. Those with generators had power – but were basically no better off then those without them for communication. Our city became an island in the mountains.

The city started their recovery plan immediately – they pushed out their message and were updating the citizen on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Who to call, where to go, how to get help. The message was received and distributed by all the media and through all the media channels. We were watching them at their press conferences from our apartment in Boston.

Unfortunately, the only people NOT getting the message were those living in the area.

The city forgot to include an analog recovery plan, they forgot to include the human option in their plans. They forgot to include the old methods in their plans.

They did not consider how to get the messages out when the medium no longer existed. They did not plan for unintended consequences.

Everything worked – until it didn’t.

The city did follow their plan, they tried. But they were overwhelmed, and rescue efforts took priority – the goal was and is saving lives.

Panic started setting in when the water system failed along with power. Roads and bridges were washed away, and communities were isolated. Many people had limited gas in their cars….and even with gas they could not get out of their communities with the downed power lines and trees. No stores were open, no food or water was available.

And there was not government support until Sunday – no water or food distribution. For days.

We tried using digital channels to communicate with the city leadership that they needed a hands-on approach, person to person, bullhorns, leaflets dropped from planes, neighbor to neighbor updates, pony express – whatever it took to get the word out…but it took a few days for the city to acknowledge and start changing its delivery methods.

For our part, we used social media and text/cell to reach out to our friends and family members in the area to share updates, hoping they received the messages. Over 95% of the people chatting in our Facebook Asheville Neighbors Helping Neighbors group after the storm lived outside the affected area – and we were all trying to figure out how to share the message, trying to locate people, posting and reposting anything we could.

We asked those who could see the messages to go to their neighbors’ homes, check on them and update them with the information on shelters and distribution centers.

I felt useless – we could see what was happening to our home and community and were powerless to help. We wanted to do more, we wanted to help more but couldn’t.

While our Facebook group has helped reunite and connect family and friends, and helped get food, water and medicine to those in need there are many others we cannot help.

Living in a tech world is great – until the lights goes off.

#helene