Tsunami Survivors 'appalled' By Conduct Of Embassy Officials

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Tsunami survivors 'appalled' by conduct of Embassy officials

By Sally Pook

Last Updated: 8:59am GMT 30/11/2006

National Audit Office report

British Embassy officials are criticised today in an official report for their insensitivity and selfishness in the days following the Asian tsunami.

British couples wait at Phuket International Airport in December 2004 after surviving the tsunami

Nearly two years after the Boxing Day disaster, the experiences of those who survived and those in Britain who tried to find their dead or injured relatives are published in a review by the National Audit Office.

The report found that British agencies were initially "overwhelmed" by the unprecedented scale of the disaster, in which more than 300,000 people died.

"The overall balance of experience was that the assistance provided in the aftermath of the tsunami, though good in parts, was perceived as piecemeal, inconsistent and inadequate," said the report.

Scathing criticism was reserved for some British Consulate members who, according to one survivor, were on holiday in the area at the time and who failed to help.

"After the tsunami they sat in our guest house, which was just out of reach of the tsunami," he wrote. "They didn't help anyone in any way. They sat there and got drunk until a minibus arrived.

"When it arrived they didn't offer anyone else a lift to a safe area. They just left. Their conduct was disgraceful and made me ashamed to be British. I've never seen such a selfish and self-interested display. It was truly horrifying to see."

Another survivor wrote: "I suggest we need better-trained, professional British Embassy staff who do not treat the public as idiots and get rid of that superiority. I was very close to changing my nationality. In fact I thought their whole attitude was appalling."

Another survivor wrote: "[There was a] lack of understanding and almost that we were in the way. They were out of their depth and totally overwhelmed."

from todays uk daily telegraph , and no surprises really.

UK NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE REPORT.

this in depth report (72 pages) makes interesting reading , and also illustrates the detail the national audit office went into in compiling this report.

one hopes that the lessons learnt by it all will translate into improved performance by foriegn office employees of all levels , well one can hope .

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

If they were on holiday, (and you didn't highlight that), there are no ethics that demand they assist. They are not dive-rescuers or paramedics. They are office workers.

I recall one day after the tsunami hoteliers were begging people to come to Phuket and enjoy the island. So these people did that.....

That said, the UK Embassy staff who came to Phuket immediately afterwards in an official capacity did fall short and were deservedly criticised. None had presumably received training for catastrophe management - but then who does? Probably nobody in SE Asia.

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there are no ethics that demand they assist. They are not dive-rescuers or paramedics. They are office workers.

so you are saying that whilst thousands of other holiday maker survivors caught up in the disaster felt duty bound morally to offer help and assistance to those less fortunate , embassy staff who happened to be enjoying a break from their embassy duties in thailand , the maldives and sri lanka were well within their remit to sit around sipping gin and tonics whilst hundreds of their countrymen around them were struggling to find help and advice.

we are not talking about dive rescue or paramedic help , we are talking about consular assistance..... helping to make contact with relatives back home , helping to organise travel documents , finances , flights home etc.etc.etc........ i.e. office work.

i think barney , you must be a consular official of some sort.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

Consular assistance was given - the entire Bkk consular office shut down and they went down there. It wasn't handled very well from what I gather, becuase they're wasn't much scope allowed by whitehall mandarins or their overlords for being flexible.

For those office workers from the embassy that were there on holiday - be realistic, they had no 'remit' at all. They carried on their Xmas holiday, probably ignorant of the scale of the unfolding disaster. I seem to recall that the unequivocal message within 24 hours was "Phuket needs holidaymakers more than ever"......in retrospect that doesn't seem at all tasteful either !

I've printed out a copy of the UK government report. I wonder if a similar analysis will be forthcoming from the Thai Government...

"We didn't raise the alarms because we didn't want to jeopardise the tourist industry."

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For those office workers from the embassy that were there on holiday - be realistic, they had no 'remit' at all. They carried on their Xmas holiday, probably ignorant of the scale of the unfolding disaster.

these "office workers" aka consular officers employed by the foriegn office , surely dont need a "remit" , written in triplicate , signed and dated by the ambassador , authorised and stamped by assorted grades of jobsworths and paper clip shufflers back in whitehall before taking some action off their own bat , or are todays foriegn office employees so lacking in initiative that they need authorisation from whitehall (on boxing day...... probably wasnt anyone there) before getting stuck in with some practical assistance to the brits affected by it..

the report paints a picture of callousness and insensitivity towards uk citizens who had just come through a horrifying disaster , other embassies came through for their citizens with flying colours.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

Yeah, i'm not defending them, you know darn well UK diplomats don't have initiative. Why did they join the civil service.

A remit to do what?

"Please would everyone stand in an orderly line. Um.....while we hand out the contents of our wallets."

They're sitting there, sozzled. They're not functioning mindful creatures by that stage.

If they'd been on the beach they'd have been dead.

20-20 hindsight is invariably perfect.