The Local - Mobile technology aids Swedish evacuation
The Local - Mobile technology aids Swedish evacuation:
Mobile technology aids Swedish evacuation
Published: 20th July 2006 14:29 CET
By Thursday morning, almost all Swedish citizens had been evacuated from Lebanon after a gruelling four-day, round-the-clock operation coordinated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm.
Thoroughout the process there have been reports of chaos, disorganisation and a lack of information, blamed partly on the fact that Sweden only has a consulate, rather than an embassy, in Beirut.
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But the Swedish evacuation effort, supported by mobile phone technology, has been held up as a "model of order" by commentators in other countries such as Canada, Australia and the US which, on Thursday, were only beginning their own evacuations.
The Toronto Star described how many Canadian families gathering in the sweltering heat were subjected to "the stress of seeing children or spouses left off the list" followed by hours of arguing.
"At about the same time, Swedish citizens had gathered in an air-conditioned hotel," wrote the paper.
"Their names were placed on a list only after they boarded buses that shuttled them to a first boat, which carried 1,600 Swedes to safety, and a second one that ferried away 300."
The Canberra Times reported that the Australian effort was being unfavourably compared with that of a number of countries including Sweden, while USA Today slammed America's apparent inaction, pointing out that three ships had been chartered by Sweden to carry citizens to Cyprus.
According to foreign ministry spokeswoman Nina Ersman, text messaging has been a major tool in the Swedish evacuation operation.
"In the last week we have sent out five text messages to everyone in Lebanon who is registered with a Swedish mobile network," she told The Local.