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Need of communication strategy stressed

The forum was opened by His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. Speaking on “Management Risks and Crises in Governmental Media Communications”, Brad Staples demonstrated a point in the case of how Singapore handled the SARS epidemic in 2003. “SARS was a real threat to Singapore, but the government had already in place a communication structure for crisis management. “Singapore has been in the process of preparation for 25 years. When the crisis finally came, the prime minister just tapped it and the health minister immediately put SARS in the list of infectious disease, a national crisis was declared and the quick government response restored and reinforced the trust among the people.

He said that building of trust during national crisis or emergency can be demonstrated in the ability of government to act quickly, ensure a high level of transparency and degree of confidence in the government to handle the crisis.

He said that in the case of Syria, the government has to keep pace with the concerns, with what the people are saying and how they are reacting. “Failure to do so suggests inadvertent act or lack of consideration on the part of government.”

He said that Syria has already determined its sets of action, hence governments, including UAE government, and institutional organisations have to be part of the global community to engage themselves in the crisis management.

He said that no country, even those with enormous wealth and structure, has so far managed crisis of huge magnitude. “The US, Japan and even Germany have failed. I do not think there is one country among these rich countries can lecture to the developing world about managing a crisis well because they have also failed. Not one example we have seen in these regions.” Qatar, he said, has been engaged in many sensitive issues but they have been able to handle it up to certain extent.

lily@khaleejtimes.com

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