Wednesday, 3 October 2007

Making a drama out of a crisis

I spent this morning in Dacorum contributing to a “desk-top exercise” for HCC’s Emergency Planning team. The event was attended by many people from the emergency services and from the military, all looking very smart in uniforms adorned with epaulettes and occasional loops of gold braid. There were also many officers from local government and from the health services, and these could be distinguished by their smart business suits and by the plastic id cards dangling around their necks. And there was also a handful of us from the voluntary sector: we were mostly dressed for a day of gentle gardening, wearing a pleasing mixture of wool, denim and tweed. How my heart swelled.

The exercise consisted of an imaginary scenario (a train crash near Kings Langley), and discussions about risks, needs and the responses of the various emergency services etc. I was struck by four things.

First, in the event of an emergency, no-one is in overall charge and no-one takes overall responsibility. I don’t know why I should ever have assumed that there would be someone to take overall control. But there wont. Responding to emergencies is very much a partnership effort and so relies heavily on good relations and good communications.

Secondly, each agency has its own detailed procedures and “responding to an emergency” simply means “identifying the correct procedure and following it” – this is all well and good provided a procedure exists and is correctly applied.

Thirdly, no-one has looked critically at the engagement of voluntary sector agencies. Those involved in this exercise were the Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance, Women’s Royal Voluntary Reserve and Salvation Army. All of course are excellent organisations capable of deploying experienced and highly trained volunteers. But there don’t appear to be any written protocols or procedures about who might be involved and when they might be contacted. Should Volunteer Centres ask everyone if they are prepared to be called in the event of a civic emergency? What if the Scientologists arrive at a disaster scene offering counselling and advice?

Fourthly, no one at all is responsible for looking after people in general. If it is necessary to evacuate people, they will be gathered together at a “reception centre” most probably at a church hall or a community centre. But of course most people wont go to “reception centres” at all, they will find relatives and friends to stay with. Only the most isolated and vulnerable will turn up at a reception centre – perhaps a single parent family, an elderly couple, or a refugee family. No-one seems to understand that these people need to be treated with dignity, and to be afforded privacy and respect. This could be very distressing, transforming a tedious necessity into a traumatic episode.

Lunches

Back at Watford CVS I talked with two Watford groups about registering with the Charity Commission, and then enjoyed a long discussion with Maria to timetable our 2008 networking lunches and sort out some bookkeeping queries.

I spent the evening sorting through some HIC business, writing correspondence and making more progress on Watford CVS’s Community Directory. I arrived home very late.