FORCCE FOCUS: Q&A with Tara Rose Aynsley (2025)

TRA: My journey to working in the field of risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) was like for many professionals in this area, winding and untraditional. Originally, I studied Law and Public Administration, however made the shift early-on in my career to working in health and social policy and programming in Australia. In 2014, after working with a national NGO in Mongolia, I was hooked and made a deliberate shift to continue working internationally.

In 2017, after completing a master’s specializing in emergency management, I was fortunate to join the WHO Pacific subregional office as a RCCE technical officer. More than four years on in the role, I considered myself very lucky to have worked with an amazing group of committed health and RCCE specialists to establish and strengthen the RCCE systems across 21 Pacific Island countries and areas. Travelling by boat for work, labouring through cyclones, floods and outbreaks are some of the many fond memories of responding to emergencies in the Pacific. These were insightful experiences that poured into the ‘why’ I do this work. Six years have passed since beginning with WHO, and until now, helping empower and engage communities as part of health emergency management is just as rewarding as when I started

FS: When you heard about the multiple earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, what thoughts were going through your head? Can you describe your experience and feelings during the earthquakes?

TRA: It was felt before it was heard. At the time I was in my room was on 12th floor of the Damascus hotel. The trembling woke me up, before it transcended into what felt like the whole building swaying.

After evacuating the building, I believe many of us were still in shock and so the full enormity of the event and its impact didn’t sink in until we arrived in the office where full details of the devastation started rolling in. With it, came the flood of emotions – deep sorrow for the so many who lost their lives and families; the desperate grip of hope for others to be rescued; and the overwhelming feeling of helpless and frustration of wanting to do more. This, of course, fuels the adrenaline to do as much as you possibly can to assist.

Overwhelming though was the great feeling of honour to have worked alongside my WHO colleagues at the country office, who put aside everything to work around the clock and provide life-saving health services and support.

FS: What concerns did you feel were important to immediately address given the situation? When a disaster of this magnitude happens, what should be the priority for RCCE?

TRA: In the initial hours of the response, the main focus for RCCE was ensuring critical life-saving information was shared with affected communities on what to do during aftershocks, how to avoid further risk and injury and operational information such as which health services remained operative and where to seek care.

Daily social listening scans were immediately conducted, scouring digital platforms to better understand community issues and needs, which we then fed into our overall health sector response.

FS: Take us through the first weeks of the response. What RCCE materials did you and your team put out there to support the affected communities? (Feel free to include links if you like)?

TRA: Like any complex humanitarian event where every aspect of people’s lives were affected, we needed to implement responsive communication and community engagement interventions that addressed the multiple health risks and impacts, including risk of infectious diseases like cholera, what to do during aftershocks, and encouraging positive coping strategies to address the extreme trauma and mental health impacts.

Through our daily digital listening we were able to detect emerging issues, and quickly disseminate information and resources to respond, such as the recent information on burns and fire management after a several fires broke out in tents and shelters. To ensure that there was harmonized community outreach by mobile response teams, we also developed an integrated community health responder package , which is being rolled out via our NGO and community partners to ensure there is coordinated, consistent health outreach and support is provided to affected communities.

FS: What were some of the main challenges you face during the response? How did you address these challenges?

TRA: Even before the earthquake, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria has caused huge population displacement, major socioeconomic decline, and deterioration of the health system, and so the response needed to consider the complex needs, and challenges already faced by Syrians. For instance, how you encourage safe practices and behaviours for handwashing and sanitation to reduce risk of cholera infection, when people didn’t have access to safe water or toilets. As much as possible we tried to ensure that health outreach involved the distribution of supplies and resources, as well as information, so as to enable people to adopt preventative measures.

FS: Finally, what learnings can you share with us from the work you did in the past month?

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