Switzerland is to improve its response to crisis situations abroad by creating a pool of disaster management experts and by giving better training and equipment to embassy staff, the official Swissinfo website reported Tuesday.
The website cited Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey as saying that the Asian tsunami and the conflict in Ivory Coast had shown that Swiss reaction to such events needs to be improved.
Calmy-Rey said investigations into the management of these two crises had brought to light a series of "technical problems," Swissinfo said.
In the tsunami, which swept across southeast Asia last December and caused about 300,000 deaths, 60 Swiss victims have been identified and a further 65 are missing.
It revealed the limits of Swiss emergency action, said the minister.
The minister also said that "certain people had not shown themselves to be up to the task" in Ivory Coast after renewed violence hit the African country.
Some Swiss evacuated from the country had complained that they were unable to contact their embassy for a long period of time.
Calmy-Rey said measures being put in place to help combat such problems include the creation of a pool of experts for dispatch to Swiss embassies in times of conflict or disaster.
The team will be in place by next July.
Training in crisis management and cooperation will also be given to diplomatic staff and technical equipment in embassies will be updated.
(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2005)
