INFORMATION CRITICAL FOR MANAGING CRISES

A critical part of preparations for Cricket World Cup is to be ready to deal with the public communication requirements of any eventuality, particularly the unplanned and in times of crisis.

This is the view of Barbados’ Chief Information Officer (CIO), Jacqui Wiltshire, who was today welcoming participants at the opening of a two day CARICOM workshop on Crisis/Security Management for Press Officers at the Sherbourne Conference Centre.

Noting that the region was prone to natural disasters such as hurricanes, and communications officers, therefore, to some extent, understood the importance of crisis preparations, she pointed out that security risks of the world today were very different from seven or eight years ago and the implications were no longer localised but global – from health & tourism to concerns of terrorism.

“We are staging a world event in an environment where the provision of information is key. Timely, accurate, appropriate and credible information to both national and international publics, particularly in time of crisis, is pivotal,” she said.