C

ommunications is a strategic element, in emergency and disaster situations, that allows the population to make the best decisions in order to protect their lives and health.

The day of quake, as communications were progressively reestablished, messages sent by text allowed the teams deployed in the affected areas to coordinate information gathering and consolidation with the zonal headquarters, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and its situation room, and the national Emergency Operations Committee (EOC).

Communications directed at the population, with key messages from the MSP, and support from PAHO/WHO, had a two-fold purpose. First, to provide information about the location of operational hospital units and, second, to deliver messages about safe water consumption, measures for protection against violence and transmission of diseases such as Zika, among others. Interviews with mass media were essential to spread information about the main health issues and how to face them.

In addition, training was provided to strengthen capacities in educational communication strategies through artistic and ludic activities (music, theater, painting), for the delivery of messages to help with prevention of priority diseases and the provision of psychological first aid. For example, at the Portoviejo shelter, making use of artistic and ludic interventions such as “amorfinos” (musical rhyming traditional to the region), the following topics were covered: water tank sealing, preventing the dissemination of Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya, as well as diarrhea and gastrointestinal diseases, and insalubrity, waste disposal procedures, and drinking water management.

Information dissemination continues, and the teams trained in ludic techniques are still using these in the affected areas, promoting individual and community resilience, as well as strengthening disease prevention and health promotion.