An Organizational and Culturally Sensitive Approach to Managing Air-Traffic Disaster: The Gulf Air Incident

Abstract

The Gulf-Air incident that took place in 2000 in Manama, Bahrain supported the need for adopting innovative strategies to deal with the consequences of air disaster. Due to the nature of the incident, an ad-hoc team was formulated at the Cairo Airport and its major objective was to address the critical needs for the upkeep of the regular operations at the airport, as well as considering the cultural, religious and human needs of individuals, families and communities affected by the disaster. The ad-hoc emergency team was successful in applying immediate and flexible strategies that were effective in achieving the objectives of the emergency management plan. Contrary to the belief in the need to rely solely on the Command and Control Approach in disaster management, this study provides evidence of the effectiveness of emergency management strategies that are based on the Human Relations Approach.