Bermuda will be well-positioned in the event of a crisis if the rich experience of new Governor Sir John Vereker is any indication.

Sir John spoke to Hamilton Rotarians yesterday and, while he declined to speak to local issues, he highlighted some of his extensive career dealing with international crises - both natural and conflict-generated.

Sir John has been involved in humanitarian response efforts around the globe for the past three decades through his work history with the World Bank and Britain's Overseas Development Agency.

In speaking at the Rotary weekly luncheon he focussed on three recent crises - the volcanic eruptions in Montserrat and the wars in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

Sir John said one could divide lessons in crisis management from the experiences in these countries into four categories - people, structures, information and media - but Murphy's Law always applies.A fundamental shortage in every crisis situation tends to be information, he added. Sir John said during the war on terrorism in Afghanistan Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted twice daily updates on the ground situation.

But information tends to be conflicting depending on the source of origin and Sir John suggested in most crises the media will come to define the agenda.

"It is vital to build media handling into the agenda at the beginning," he said.

Sir John entertained questions at the end of his prepared speech but quickly deflected those highlighting Bermudian issues.

Rotarian Toppy Cowen asked Sir John to respond to an article in Tuesday's The Royal Gazette suggesting there might be a Bermudian Governor for the Island in the near future.

"Certainly enough, I don't recognise that as a question on crisis management," the Governor quipped in reply.