Leveraging Israel's experience in dealing with crises on a daily basis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher, Dr. Zvi Reich, has launched a new online tool to help and evaluate and improve crisis preparedness and emergency communications.
Reich and his colleagues from several European Universities have developed the Crisis Communication Scorecard to help public authorities improve their communication before, during and after emergencies or disasters. The free online tool is available on the website www.crisiscommunication.fi
The Crisis Communication Scorecard is based on academic research comprised of reviews of the most recent literature in the field as well as empirical studies on stakeholder expectations, media relations and cooperation between crisis responders.
Dr. Reich, who headed the Israeli team, explains, "During crises, effective communication with the public becomes a matter of life or death, and the capacity to do so becomes a national security resource. Therefore, it's critical to equip the spokespeople with effective tools, such as this one which is largely based on Israeli experience, which will enable them to coordinate with the medical and rescue services."
The online audit tool offers:
- A preparedness audit and test crisis communication planning
- An evaluation of communication in an emergency preparedness exercise
- Post-crisis measurement and debriefing tools
The measurement instrument is intended for authorities such as rescue services, the police and healthcare, as well as municipalities and other kinds of organizations responsible for crisis management.
The research project "Developing a crisis scorecard" which led to the website launch has been funded as part of the European Community's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 217889.
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