Foot and Mouth - using the web in civil emergencies
Saturday, August 4th, 2007Last night the UK government announced a renewed outbreak of foot and mouth. Full information is on the DEFRA website. The outbreak in 2001 cost an estimated £8bn and destroyed many businesses.
The UK government has done much good work online in the last few years, improving the way information is distributed, breaking down siloes between departments. Given that I was surprised to see no reference to the outbreak on the government’s “civil emergencies” site Resilience, particularly as this site is still linked in the context of the first outbreak.
Getting timely and accurate information out to stakeholders in particular the various arms of government is a very high priority. Slowness of action during the last epidemic was a specific criticism levelled at the government. It is a great idea to have a website relating to co-ordination in civil emergencies, but it only works if you use it.
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