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New Year
Gets Off to a Bad Start.
The travel business, the media and
rescue missions from all over the world are still reeling
from the magnitude of the disaster and destruction wrought
by the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day. Our thoughts go
out to the relatives of the nearly 200,000 people who
perished, the thousands of survivors, may of them badly
injured and traumatised, and the hundreds of thousands of
coastal dwellers who have lost their homes, their livelihood
and in many cases everything they owned.
Be Prepared
Experts are working on a scheme to put
in place an early-warning system in the event of any more
serious underwater earthquakes, and so hopefully prevent a
repeat of such horrendous loss of life, but once again it
shows that natural disasters can strike anywhere, at any
time, and can affect us all. We must do our best to be
prepared.
Last November, as reported in the last
newsletter, ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) held
another Crisis Management Seminar at its London
headquarters. docleaf®’s
Chief Executive, Dr David Perl, was Event Chairman.
Delegates benefited from practical
advice on many topics, including how to manage when disaster
strikes, how to handle the media and how to set up office
systems to cope in a crisis. The seminar ended with two
crisis simulation exercises modelled on those from
docleaf®’s
casebook.
What none of the delegates could know,
of course, was that six weeks later many of them would be
giving up part of their holiday leave to deal with the
appalling aftermath of that devastating tsunami on 26
December.
It has been reported that four UK tour
operators have suffered client deaths, fortunately very few
given that an estimated 6,500 UK clients were holidaying in
the areas affected.
Lucky Escape
docleaf®
has been involved “behind the scenes” and
has helped as much as possible. As it happens, a qualified
trauma counsellor and docleaf®
Associate, Carole Marco, took up residence
in Phuket, Thailand, a few months ago, and was fortunate
enough to be visiting friends away from the beach on the
morning in question, instead of going for a swim.
She has been working very long hours
ever since, with little support, few resources and no
payment, visiting the sick and injured in hospital, and
comforting those who have suffered most. She reports that
in Phuket “the medical care is pretty good and the hospitals
well-organised” but that helping survivors come to terms
with their grief and the realisation that loved ones
reported missing may never be found is very tough work, even
for a trained and experienced counsellor like Carole.
Governments Slow to Respond
One side issue from the Indian Ocean
disaster is the slow reaction of government agencies.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff, at home and abroad,
at first seemed as overwhelmed as the victims by the
magnitude of the disaster. Even when telephone help-lines
had been set up, many callers were unable to get through.
Fortunately many travel companies had a
trained Crisis Response Manager who swung into action
immediately, setting up communication links and liaising
with the media and international rescue organisations such
as the Red Cross as well as the FCO to ensure that accurate
news and information was readily available. Perhaps the
start of a New Year is the time to reflect how your
company would have coped in such circumstances.
For help in all crisis management and
risk assessment matters, why not call
docleaf®
now on 01923 681224 or visit us at
www.docleaf.com.
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