Swiss to improve response to foreign crises

Calmy-Rey says crisis management needs to be improved Keystone

Switzerland is to improve its management of crisis situations abroad by creating a pool of experts and by giving better training and equipment to embassy staff.

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said on Monday that the Asian tsunami and the conflict in Ivory Coast had shown that Swiss reaction to such events needed to be improved.

Calmy-Rey said that investigations into the management of these two crises had brought to light a series of “technical problems”.

The tidal waves, which swept across southeast Asia last December, causing an estimated 300,000 deaths, had largely been handled well by on-site diplomatic staff, said the minister.

But she added that as the tsunami was so large and affected so many Swiss – 60 victims have been identified and a further 65 people are missing – it had also revealed the limits of Swiss emergency action.

Measures carried out in the aftermath of the undersea quake had proved to be insufficient, despite the fact that 100 collaborators were helping out in the region, compared with the 20 normally stationed there.

Ivory Coast

The minister added that in Ivory Coast “certain people had not shown themselves to be up to the task” after renewed violence hit the country.

Some Swiss evacuated from the country had complained that they were unable to contact their embassy for long periods of time. The head of the Swiss mission in Abidjan has since been recalled to Bern.

Calmy-Rey said that several measures would now be put in place to help combat such problems.

Steps to be taken include the creation of a pool of experts who would be dispatched to Swiss embassies in times of conflict or disaster. The team should be in place by next July.

Training in crisis management and cooperation will also be given to diplomatic staff and technical equipment in embassies will be updated.

The minister also promised to set up online forms to help search for the missing after the 11 telephone hotlines set up in Bern for the relatives of those affected by the tsunami were overloaded.

swissinfo with agencies

In brief

The new proposals to boost Swiss crisis management abroad include:

The creation of a pool of around 20 experts to be sent abroad in times of conflict or disaster.

More training for diplomatic staff and better equipment to ensure that contact is maintained.

Internet forms to request information about those affected by crises.