Incorporating battle-tested Israeli know-how, a Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev research team has developed a website to improve emergency preparedness,
by helping coordinate effective communications with medical and rescue
services.
The “Crisis Communication Scorecard,” website was created by an
Israeli research team led by Dr. Zvi Reich from BGU’s Department of
Communication Studies, in collaboration with a group of European
researchers.
In a statement released by BGU on Sunday, Dr. Reich said
“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.”
BGU said the tool is
meant for police and rescue services, as well as city and government bodies in
charge of crisis management.
In addition to BGU, the program was
developed by research teams from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, the
University of Tartu in Estonia, the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology and the Emergency Services College in Finland – largely through
funding from the the European Community’s