WRITTEN ON January 12th, 2005 BY Richard S AND STORED IN Uncategorized

The Asian Tsunami again showed a dramatic mismatch between the response of UK Government and that of ordinary people. This raises two questions:

1. What should we expect of Government?
2. Does the current “management” culture in Whitehall stifle initiative and compassion?

In former times, we would instantly have sent in the Royal Navy. A warship (or submarine) would have provided instant supplies of drinking water, food, medical help, electric power, telecommunications, co-ordination and willing, organized manpower.

Many island and coastal communities throughout the world still fondly remember the Royal Navy miraculously appearing in their hour of need.

However, these days our horizons have shrunk. Despite our glorious past, and the people in many countries who are still well disposed to the UK, we now aspire only to be “at the heart of Europe.” Our armed forces are seriously overcommitted, our Royal Navy has shrunk, and Whitehall’s system of budgeting dictates a slow and unseemly round of haggling between ministries before anything can happen. UK Government prefers to act through often bureaucratic, international agencies.

Although the affected people obviously needed emergency drinking water, food, medical help and shelter, UK Government insisted that nothing could be done until there had been a “needs assessment.” The Foreign Office press release even misspelt the capital of Sri Lanka. (Hint: There is no “u” in Colombo!) Despite its large staff, Number 10 failed even to issue press statements. The “emergency phone number” was quickly overwhelmed, and when callers eventually did get through, some were met by rude unhelpful staff who refused even to register the names of missing relatives.

The affected countries will long remember that other Governments were quicker to react. Amongst the very many countries, Australia, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Sweden and USA have all provided rapid tangible help.

See also the excellent speech: President Bush Thanks USAID Employees and NGO Presidents.

In the UK, it took an individual from Scottish Water to think of donating and loading bottled water onto a holiday charter aircraft which was flying empty to the Maldives. Many other individuals, businesses and organizations have done their best to help and to raise awareness. As always, ordinary people in the UK have been very, very generous.

Clearly, long term projects and disaster prevention are important but shouldn’t the “Ideal Government” be more responsive than this?

Everyday Crises

Disasters and crises of all sizes will continue to happen, often at inconvenient times, weekends and holiday periods.

Within the UK it has become a bad joke that only the Fire Brigade always responds to emergencies: Other government services are either too busy or have decided to “manage” their response. So, destitute people often get no help from DWP over their missing giros, police refuse to investigate humble burglaries, social services need several weeks warning, GPs now work office hours, Hospital A&E departments ……

Even information is rationed: Public broadcasters are happy to give full details of long boring sports results, but gabble through the weather forecasts, and provide little detail on everyday traffic problems, or even on flood alerts. Any information is provided only via very inefficient telephone “help lines;” not via broadcasts, teletext or the Internet.

Towards an More “Ideal” Future

1. Information likely to be of interest or help to many people should always be broadcast, repeatedly, in detail and not be relegated to inefficient telephone “help lines.”

2. The UK Government should make better use of the Internet, both for providing detailed information during crises and for gathering information. For example, a Sri Lankan university quickly published an official web form on the Internet allowing people world-wide to register details about relatives missing in Sri Lanka.

3. Broadcasters should give real facts: Many returning tourists were interviewed about conditions in the Asian countries. However, few were asked to state which hotel or even which town they were talking about. Often the interviewers named only the country. This was no help to other worried relatives or friends. Similarly, reporters in the region often showed pictures but failed to state their locations.

4. The UK Government must respond better to crises. The public response has again proved that care and compassion did not end with the days of black and white TV. We need an effective organization able to cope with civil emergencies within the UK, and the ability to provide rapid international help. This may mean an end to the “managerial” stranglehold in Whitehall.

Britain has always been a compassionate, tolerant, outward looking, trading nation. We are home to people from many parts of the world and people in many countries still respect Britain. People in distress remember those who help them. An “ideal” government needs to be more responsive, less insular and less rigidly “managerial.”

Help provided this way quickly wins “hearts and minds” and is far more effective at combating the threat of international terrorism than any hugely destructive and expensive military adventure.