Sverige

kris och lärdom 13
The news media should be offered regular information
in the form of briefings/press conferences, one or
more times a day, and opportunities to monitor the
operational disaster response continuously. Media
contacts should also be arranged, and gathered in one
central post (management/staff function) rather than
being split up between the different administrations.
Relationship work and assistance
from the general public
At local level, there is a large interest group where many
people are personally affected – the general public in
this sense refers to local residents. The relationships
between different groups, and between authorities and
citizens, as individuals and aggregated to the resident
collective, changes at this level in a disaster compared
to non-disaster situations (cp. Buckle 2005).
The relationship between authorities and citizens
changes at several levels in a disaster situation – in
relation to communication between the parties, contact
between the response organisation and those directly
affected, and for assistance and support in various
forms. The general public becomes an important
target group in communications work, where information
is spread not only via normal media channels
but also directly to households (and where innovative
methods are required for events like floods, storms
and infrastructure outages).
Perhaps we imagine that disasters involve more
problematic and strained relations than normal, but
this study (and others) suggests that closer and more
allied relations arise, with exceptions for specific cases
and specific individuals in their contact with authorities.
Several disaster professionals report an observation
of greater community involvement because people are
determined to handle the situation together.
A persistent thesis on anarchy and chaos can be
thoroughly refuted. Even evacuations and other obviously
distressing situations are carried out without
any major implementational or relational problems. In
the common and shared ambition to handle the ongoing
situation and return to normal conditions, contact and
communication between the different groups increases.
This in itself signifies specific difficulties in disasters like
the January storm, where the means and channels of
communication disappear and are destroyed.
Some groups of citizens may be more affected than
others, for example property owners, service users
and care recipients, business owners and power and
telecom subscribers. Innovative solutions are required
for service and information. In several cases, comprehensive
resources were needed for door-to-door visits
to households.
POSOM groups offer psychological and social support
to individuals who are directly and personally
affected by disasters – the injured, and families and
friends of the victims. This system of person to person
communication, dialogue and assistance was launched
in connection with the Estonia Ferry disaster and continues
to function today in crisis contexts.
People who live and work in the municipality sometimes
also contribute to the response operation and
crisis communications. In some “old” disasters like
floods and during the January storm of 2005 some
parts of the population were engaged or became actively
involved in the response. As we have already
seen, both contemporary disaster researchers and a
number of the interviewed disaster professionals in
this study stress the importance of involving the general
public in this work.
Another general group that disaster professionals
could target is visitors to the municipality. During
some extreme events, large numbers of people travel
to witness the damage, so-called “disaster tourism”,
which can hinder and obstruct the disaster response
operation. Another visiting category is delegations
that in many cases require significant planning and
communication efforts.