Crisis Communication - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages There were clearly ethical issues involved in the SARS crisis. This had to do with the handling of information, where it was necessary that accurate statistics on the crisis will be made known to the public for further action to be taken. However, this was concealed from the public in most parts of China. In the case of SARS, there could hardly be any form of pre-crisis contingency planning. This is because the cause of the disease was virtually not known and so it was going to be difficult to control its emergence. However, for most other parts of the world, there could be pre-crisis contingency plans to ensure that the disease did not spread to those areas. Examples of these could have been the screening of all people undertaking cross-border journeys. In cases where diseases were detected in people also, using a coherent quarantine system that ensured that there was no mingling of affected people with unaffected people. What is more, at the crisis event level, a rapid response contingency plan was going to be necessary. This rapid response was supposed to ensure that as many cases of SARS were identified and rapidly responded to. Noting the high level of mortality associated with the disease, this rapid response contingency plan was going to be a way of ensuring that people who contracted the disease were not made to live with the disease for a very long time. Finally, an evaluation contingency plan was necessary at the post-crisis recovery phase to find ways of avoiding future occurrences. Media communication in times such as the SARS crisis is so important in ensuring that the right information was sent to the public. Such information was also necessary for educating the populace so that they would not over worry with events that were taking place. To this end, as a communication expert, one of the best ways to deal with the media is to ensure that there were specialized media reporters to give information to the public on the disease. This would have been done by sampling a section of the media who had some background in medicine or health and giving them professional and specialized information on the disease. Consequently, the public will be made aware that for any official and professional reportage on the disease, they had to look up to these media persons. These specialized media persons would be made to work with all media outlets as resource persons and spokespersons on the disease. They would have also used avenues of the new media such as social networks to give out information on the disease. Case # 3– 1997 Red River Valley Floods The 1997 Red River Valley Flood is a typical case of public environmental crisis that affected a group of people within an identified locality. The 1997 Red River Valley Flood is also a typical natural disaster that hit its victims in a spontaneous manner. Like with all natural disasters, the Red River Valley Flood was one that needed an integrated management strategy to address it at all levels of it including the pre-crisis and crisis phases. With an integrated management strategy, it was going to be possible to bring on board as many experts and professional in the field of flood disaster as control as possible to handle the flood. Most ...Download file to see next pagesRead More