Listening to Alarm Bells

For many years now I have been fascinated with the famous "running of the bulls" festival that happens annually in July primarily in Saint Fermin, Spain. Started in 1910, this event was started originally as a way to transfer bulls from outside the village to the bullring where they would be killed for purposes of eating. Surprisingly, the actual running normally lasts no more than five minutes as the distance the bulls travel is quite short. This is not to say there is not an element of danger attached to it. Over the past 115 years, over 15 people have been gored to death by the bulls. Nevertheless, it is an exciting activity that continues to generate much attention and even celebration.


Thinking of this event, I am reminded of a recent study on stampedes by Caesar Saloma, a physics professor at the University of the Philippines. As an expert in this area, Saloma's expertise has been tapped into over the years by officials needing guidance on issues of crowd-control. Saloma's bottom-line advice for persons finding themselves in big crowds are to note where the exits are and, should a stampede erupt, not to do what the person next to you does. It is Saloma's belief that people need to do a little internal risk management if and when they attend events, such as religious assemblies, concerns or sporting contests.
Without actually using the words, what Saloma speaks of falls under the umbrella of risk communication. It is here where communicators attempt to educate various publics on potential danger situations and what actions they should take if that risk becomes an actual crisis. A current example of that are the men and women who are ringing alarm bells regarding global warming. Another example revolves around contending with possible terrorist attacks. Risk communicators perform a valuable service even though they may not always be listened to as well as they should. I am sure those poor folks who died at the running of the bulls events wished they had paid greater heed to the risk communicators.