Foreign Office admits tsunami errors
The Foreign Office (FCO) response to the Boxing Day tsunami in south-east Asia last year was hampered by a lack of trained staff and a misdirection of resources, a new report finds.
The joint report by the department and the National Audit Office (NAO) reveals there were not enough staff at emergency call centres, preventing many worried British citizens from finding out about friends and relatives caught up in the disaster.
In addition, the report highlights a lack of trained staff available to travel to the areas affected, while it says the decision to send a rapid response team to the wrong country limited its effectiveness.
However, the report praised the way the FCO had improved its ability to respond to emergencies following the Bali bombings in 2002. The department has pledged to learn from its mistakes.
The report notes the “unprecedented” nature of tsunami crisis, which killed 300,000 people and made millions more homeless, and said that at the height of the tsunami crisis, the FCO was receiving calls at the rate of about 11,000 per hour, or three every second.
“Many concerned British citizens were unable to get through on the emergency line,” the report says, recommending that the FCO “work with partners” to find ways of separating non-urgent and urgent calls, including using menu-driven telephone software.
The report also reveals that, due to initial expectations about where the worst-hit areas would be, a highly skilled British rapid deployment team (RDT) were sent to Sri Lanka, when they would have been better used in Thailand.
“The decision to deploy the RDT to Sri Lanka did, however, meant that it was not possible to deploy a complete RDT to Thailand,” the report says.
“Reinforcements from London only arrived on January 8th and 9th. Although officers from neighbouring posts gave a great deal of valuable support, the response in Thailand lacked trained staff with certain key skills and experience.
“Furthermore, the initial reports that Sri Lanka and the Maldives had been affected more seriously than Thailand turned out to be incorrect.”
It recommends the FCO introduce a system whereby “a global network of regional RDT volunteers” are deployed across the world in order to improve its ability to respond to emergencies.
FCO consular minister Lord Triesman welcomed the report, and said the department was determined to make support for British nationals abroad “the best it can be, and offer a service that is second to none”.
He added: “The NAO’s report highlights the exceptional work of our staff around the world, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances. We will use its recommendations as a framework for doing even better in the years ahead.”
