Crisis Management: A Case of the Costa Concordia

Just over 7 days the Carnival owned cruise ship the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, Italy. Whilst rescue workers are working around the clock to find the missing the repercussions of the disaster begins as operators begin to piece together the frantic jigsaw of what actually went on. The disaster being billed as the biggest maritime disaster since the Titanic was carrying over 4,000 passengers on board many of them couples and families looking forward to their week long cruise experience. No one expected it to go so badly wrong.  

Speculation is rife about what actually went on, with the captain the main subject of the investigation, being hang out to dry by the company and being placed under house arrest. The captain will have crucial evidence  to what truly went on, but what about other individuals on board. How can a captain of this magnitude of ship be entirely to be blame for the disaster. Whilst the speculation has mainly focused on the captain it would be interesting to know what other senior officials were doing on board. 

Speculation: As passengers begin to reflect on the disaster, investigators begin to piece together what actually went on. 

Source: eandt.theiet.org

Several television clips of the disaster have showed videos filmed by cruise members on board, not only giving first true hand footage of what actually went on, but removes any hearsay so common in disasters of this magnitude. The footage also provides excellent evidence against crew members and the crisis management techniques deployed by Costa Cruises.  

The ability to identify the truth in this type of disaster is crucial, with the truth often difficult to identify, newspapers and the media are commonly left to interpretation, creating more speculation and often misleading articles. This not only hampers investigation efforts but harms potential victims who may or may not have been found yet. 

Finally the scale of Costa Cruises parent company, Carnival, owners of the likes of Cunard and P&O cruises, means that smaller errors of judgement are normally widened to the public eye and blown out of proportion in circumstances such as this. In hindsight however the pressure of working for such a high profile organisation comes with the job and there is little the captain could do to hide away from this fact. 

The Japanese Earthquake of 2011

As the UK arises to another day, spare a thought for the 100,000's of Japanese civilians who have lost their homes, their friends and most importantly their families.

The earthquake and resultant tsunami that battered the eastern coastline of Japan has engulfed many peoples sacred memories of where towns once stood, now stand in fragmented ruins. As many of us will look on in hope and disbelieve, we realise that we are helpless to defend against god's powerful nature.

I don't think anyone could of imagined that on the 11th March 2011 at approximately 2 pm Japanese time, waves of up to 10ft would clatter into buildings, remove houses from their foundations, trees from their roots and eventually leave nothing behind in its path for destruction.

As we await further news bulletins, that bring us up to the minute news on these disasters, we sometimes forget to spare a thought for individuals who have lost everything and the immense struggles they must now go back to returning back to reality and some without their loved ones.

This truly destructive act of nature that has been broadcast on television networks, over the internet and through our social networks has really shown that as an entity, as a world, we cannot and may never be able to control the force that nature brings. No matter how intelligent our scientists are, nor the instruments that measure such disasters, are only salvage that exists is hope.

So next time you awake in your bed or start another day at work, spare a thought for 100,000's of civilians living for another night, with no food, no water, little electricity and think how lucky you are to be alive.

Battered & Bruised: Even the most powerful nation in the world struggles to come to terms with the effects of such a major disaster.