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Eng. Waleed Hammad
As a crisis management consultant, how did you see the management of this crisis?
We almost lack crisis management in Egypt.
And unfortunately, senior government officials know absolutely nothing about crisis management
I was shocked to know that Dr. Hatem (the minister of Transport) visited the crisis site.
I was shocked that the prime minister also visited the crisis site.
What did they go there for?
With my respect, what are they going to do there?
Everywhere in the world accidents occur
And forgive me for not being emotional but I will be practical.
Yes please, speak what you believe.
Let's talk science here
Now, there is an accident,
What if -- God forbids -- they were two accidents at the same time,
Which one would the prime minister choose to visit first?
We deal emotionally when it comes to crisis management.
We care more about the show and the image.
In crisis situations, we don't need that!
Normally, an emergency operation centre is established to manage the crisis
We never heard a spokesman for the crisis
We witnessed the prime minister posting his condolences on Facebook
The president also made a statement
But we didn't see a dedicated spokesperson for this crisis
We don't actually know how things emerged in this crisis.
Many aspects were never revealed.
Of course there are 19 dead, such a tragedy, but surely they are other tragedies are disregarded.
Delays to the other cargo train.
The accident involved a military train with a cargo train.
Didn't the cargo-delay cause other problems,
We don't even know what was the cargo or where was it heading to, nor how long was it delayed.
On another perspective, I heard the Transport minister speaking to a TV channel on his mobile after only half an hour from the accident.
At that moment, he was expected to be in a room with others whom we call "Facilitators"
as many supplies were needed on the site
While he was in the car going to the site he would be distracted by phone calls and by the surroundings,
or he might simply arrive late and create a problem out of nothing.
The common practice is that there would be a group of people in an emergency operation center with a spokesperson
They control what is actually evolving on the ground there.
another group will manage onsite activities; firemen, ambulance and coordinate between other agencies.
Yes, not like the whole cabinet would go to the site. It was not important to go there
With respect, what did he go there for?
If there is a benefit behind your presence, then you are welcomed. If there was a value-add, then you are welcomed
Actually, eng. Waleed while you are a senior international expert in the field of crisis management, allow me to say that
in Egypt, maintaining the image is far more important than the actual dealing with the crisis.
Regretfully true!
And till this very moment, not a single government managed to manage a crisis with a satisfactory way.