THE RAINBOW COLLAPSE

DATE July 15, 2008

TIME

5:37 PM

LOCATION

Liseberg Park, Gothenburg Sweden

Attendance: 25.000(Day attendance: 36.000

Gothia Cup entries: 14.000)

36 passengers

Rescue Operation:• Police Dept.• Rescue squad • Liseberg

• Alarm chain• Rescue plan/Crisis plan

3 seriously injured

33 ”minor” injuries

SEQUENCE5:37

Collapse

5:40 Area roped off

6:10

All 36 passengers taken care of / brought to hospital

5:40

First media on site

…Immediate police investigation

”TOP STORY”

• Major tourist attraction

• Affected a lot of people on/off site

• Kids involved

• ”Could have been a lot worse”

• Holidays – peak season – news drought

• Gothia Cup – focus on Gothenburg

• Side stories

PHASE 1

Total focus on rescue operation

– AND NOTHING ELSE!

PHASE 2 MEDIA

• Be there! Be available!

• Confirm the accident - verify number of injured /casualties

• Do not speculate

• Show compassion

• Don´t lose your temper – you´ll be provoked

• ”Buy time”

• Accept criticism

• Don´t ever lie

• Don´t forget internal information

• Press conference?

CRISIS MANAGEMENT GROUP

• Make it small to secure information control

• One (or two) spokesperson(s)

• Administrative support• Be proactive towards all involved e.g. injured,

relatives, friends, personnel, media

• Try to regain the initiative!

Media

The public

Media

The public

Chats, communities, blogs, YouTube, mobiles, cameras…

• Incidents / accidents will happen

• Prepare for the worst thinkable scenario

• Stories develop beyond control

• You will face unforeseen situations