"Can you imagine being responsible for 485 million people through this phone?" - Nyikos |
I didn't expect to study abroad and have the opportunity to meet bigwigs of the Hungarian government. Who does? Today, the JSBP field studies experience gave us the opportunity to meet with Dr. Attila Nyikos, the Head of International Relations of Disaster Management, which is a subordinate body of the Ministry of the Interior here in Hungary. A Google search of his name shows his interviews with BBC, NPR, The EU Times, CBC, and others. Nyikos is a well-known figure here in Hungary, and his presence has been even more important throughout the last year because Hungary held the presidency of the EU for the first six months of 2011 and he was one of the people responsible for the disaster management for the Red Sludge disaster of October 2010.
One of the first things that Dr. Nyikos said was that while he was leading the EU Civilian Protection Mechanism, he was responsible for the lives of 485 million people through his cell phone, God forbid disaster struck. That’s a pretty huge responsibility! Now that his focus is back on Hungary, his job—still of great importance—must seem a little bit easier to take on.
Nyikos taught us that the phases of disaster management take place in a cycle: prevention, response, and recovery. Each phase is dependant on the others, and the most importantly, Dr. Nyikos stressed the importance of learning from past mistakes.
Aerial view of Red Sludge disaster |
In regards to the red sludge disaster, Dr. Nyikos asserted his opinion that almost no mistakes were made with the response and clean up of over 700,000 m3 of red sludge (a toxic by-product of the aluminum). Their greatest success was that their quick response time stopped any toxic material from reaching the Danube. Despite the fact that the Red Sludge disaster happened at all (its cause is still unknown), the Hungarian people gave great feedback and credit to the work of Disaster Management Directorate.
Dr. Nyikos equated his department to the American FEMA. FEMA does great work and the best they can under the circumstances they are thrown into, yet we always expect more. In the States we hear the opinion of the media and FEMA’s biggest critics (Hurricane Katrina, anyone?), and while this discussion was not with the head of the American agency, it was interesting to hear the other side.
The dirty work. |
Dr. Nyikos explained that his department is constantly evaluating risks, making investments, and doing everything in their power to be prepared for disasters to strike. Following the Red Sludge disaster, mining laws in Hungary were reformed, “red sludge” was classified as dangerous material, and satellites have been employed to monitor any serious ground movement. It’s great to see that within a year, so much was done to prepare for future incidents. I am impressed by the quick and decisive action that the Hungarians were able to take so that lives could be saved and excessive spreading would be stopped.
Someone has to be responsible for lives of Hungarians upon disaster, and they are lucky that Attila Nyikos is able to keep calm under all this pressure. This summer, he oversaw the evacuation of 120 EU residents from Tripoli, Libya. I can’t imagine that was an easy task. He has the authority to make decisions on the spot, and it also seems that he has the ability to make the right ones.
Nyikos calls his boss, who calls his boss, who calls this guy: the Minister of the Interior, Sandor Pinter Bildunterschrift. Within seven minutes, swift and direct disaster response is in effect. |
Live and Learn (and Learn and Change).
Mary, I have no idea how you manage to balance humor and intellect in your blog posts, but you have to teach me sometime. Your pictures and captions added a combination of insight, facts, and (appropriate) joking.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you brought up FEMA right before delving into the progress that Dr. Nyikos' department has made since the disaster. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it really raised a lot of comparisons. The Disaster Management Program has"reformed mining laws, classified red sludge as a dangerous material, and employed satellites to monitor any serious ground movement." FEMA has been intensely criticized for their lack of organization, progress, and reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There must be a conference of disaster agencies from different nations at some point - or there definitely should be - and perhaps little Hungary can teach the U.S. about a few things...
Great work, Mary! I honestly enjoyed reading your blog this week, can't wait for the next one. See you in Geneva!
Mary!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Salzburg wasn't as fabulous as I hoped it would be. Still a nice place to visit but...we'll talk.
Second, great. post. I agree with you when you talk about how much responsibility Dr. Nyikos has had through his different positions. I thought he did a good job of communicating his importance to us without being outright arrogant, and it seems as though we both felt that we were in the presence of someone quite important to Hungary, the Ministry of Interior, etc. Yet when hearing about how great Hungary did in reacting to the red sludge incident and even more so how great Dr. Nyikos' department did, I definitely am a bit more reserved about giving Dr. Nyikos 100% of my trust. I, too, think it is great that Nyikos is confident in how his department did, but I think he may have showed some bias during his presentation last Wednesday. Grace does a good job of summarizing this point in her post--check it out if you want.
Great post! Hope you had a good weekend and I'll see you soon--
One cannot predict when a disaster will occur, so we all must have the training of Emergency and Disaster Management
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