Public education, which for a business translates into employee education, is a force multiplier when disaster strikes. For every prepared individual or family, there is one less problem for the government or businesses to solve. For businesses, it means employees will return to work sooner because they aren't dealing with disaster-related problems with family members at home.

Public education is not just doing presentations to groups of people, or distributing disaster preparedness literature at county fairs and other public events. Most people already have the general knowledge that disasters happen and that they should be prepared.

But the fact is they choose not to be prepared. They are not motivated enough by a disaster's potential to strike them personally or their loved ones, to become prepared or stay prepared.

What is needed isn't a disaster education program, but rather a disaster education motivation program. Our efforts need to focus on motivating people to do what they know needs to be done to protect themselves and their families, and to maintain that level of preparedness. Red Cross studies have shown that people must hear a disaster preparedness message more than 20 times before they take the first step toward becoming prepared.

I've found through experience and observation that disaster public education is not valued by all -- especially when it comes to allocating scarce budgetary dollars. Unlike purchasing equipment, when money is spent on public education, there is nothing to touch, hold or inventory to show that you've achieved a tangible result.

Here in King County, Wash., in the last eight years, we have allocated $20 million on equipment for first responders and others, but we have only expended $1.5 million on disaster public education.

If your city or county does have an emergency management program, how do you prioritize its elements? The National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 1600 -- Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs defines standards for what a "good" emergency management program looks like. If you want your program accredited, you can undergo an audit by having independent experts review it from top to bottom.

Experience has taught me that it's difficult to be at 100 percent functionality in all areas of emergency management. When I talk with new emergency management directors, my advice is: What you choose to work on will define your program, since you can't do it all.

This leads me to public education and its importance on the "to-do" list of your overall work program. It is easy to argue that the first priority for an effective emergency management office is a disaster response plan, followed closely by the operational capacity to execute that plan. Clearly if you are looking to avoid trouble in the disaster business, these two elements are key.

But I also argue that public education is a primary responsibility that cannot be ignored by the emergency manager.

In addition, some widely taught disaster preparedness notions must be rethought to consider new evidence. For instance, three days' worth of supplies is commonly considered enough to face disasters, yet one of the wake-up calls I got from the Katrina crisis is that three days is clearly too short when catastrophic events overwhelm the response system.

Here in the Northwest, our Katrina-like event will be an earthquake. For these types of disasters, the message must not be three days, but seven days of disaster supplies, since it will take that long for meaningful federal assistance to arrive.

But who will lead the national discussion to make a consistent change in our public education messaging?

Eric Holdeman is the former director for the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management and now blogs at www.disaster-zone.com.

JB