Petra Bezjak Cirman presents communication during floods in Slovenia at the Club of Venice meeting

At the meeting, she presented to public relations representatives from 20 European countries communication and coordination of communicators in state administration during major crises in Slovenia, focusing on communication during the floods in Slovenia in August last year.

“In communicating information about the worst floods in Slovenia's history, we followed the objectives and principles of government crisis communication” she said in the introduction. Director Bezjak Cirman went on to present the key objectives and results. She highlighted the importance of timely and clear information to the public about the situation and the expected development of events, as well as the necessary self-protection measures. The basic messages must be consistent and coherent in content. She stressed that government information should be up-to-date, updated with new facts and actions, explanatory and reassuring, with information on where people can follow developments, contact details of institutions involved in the resolution of the event, and information on organisations that can help. 

Petra Bezjak Cirman said that the Government Communication Office used various tools and their own channels to communicate with the public and the media, among which social media also played an important role. Their communication addressed both the domestic and foreign public.