The CARISMAND stakeholder assembly gathered local professionals and representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Gendarmerie, the Bucharest Prefecture, Special Telecommunications Service (STS), Romanian Red Cross Society, Emergency Mobile Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD), the Ambulance service, “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, and national institutes of geology and hydrology.
On the first day, the conference delegates were introduced to CARISMAND and then discussed in six working groups a number of topics related to “internal” and “external” risk communication in disaster management. A second round of working groups in the afternoon dealt with the issue of media cultures and the role of “traditional” and social media in risk and disaster communication.
Panel discussions were held on the topics: “Communication strategies and informative tools for the mitigation of heatwave effects on vulnerable people” and “How Social Media have been Changing Emergency Management: from Earthquakes to Terrorist Attacks”.
The second day of the CARISMAND First Stakeholder Assembly started with a discussion on the role of the media in risk and disaster communication. Participants then proceeded with group sessions focused on the relationships between culture and trust in risk and disaster communication as well as the role of cultural leaders in such communication. Culture, risk, and trust were also the core elements of the afternoon panel discussion.
A final highlight of the event was the speech by Dr. Raed Arafat, Secretary of State within the Ministry of Interior, coordinator of the Department of Emergency Situations, and founder and coordinator of the Emergency Mobile Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD).
Follow the latest news and events around CARISMAND on the project’s website: http://www.carismand.eu