The second Preparatory
Meeting for Phase Two of the World Summit on the Information Society included a
special session on Telecoms for Disaster Relief. The session focused on key
elements of the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication
Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations, which came into effect
on 8 January. Until now, regulatory barriers that make it extremely difficult to
import and rapidly deploy telecommunications equipment for emergencies often
impeded the trans-border use of telecommunication equipment by humanitarian
organizations.
In the absence of an agreed multilateral framework that temporarily waived
formalities, delays meant the loss of lives. "In emergency situations,
telecommunication saves lives," said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of the
International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations specialized agency for
telecommunications, which, along with the UN Office for Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has been a driving force in drafting and promoting
the Convention.
The special session, held in Salle XI of the Palais des Nations in Geneva,
18h15 — 19h30 22 February, included an overview of ITU work in Telecoms for
Disaster Relief, which is outlined below.
250 000 USD Allocated for Tsunami Telecommunications Relief
ITU will provide 250 000 (USD) from its T
Surplus Fund for a project that will provide expert services to the earthquake
and tsunami-hit countries — Indonesia, Maldives and Sri Lanka — to carry out an
assessment of the current status of the telecommunications infrastructure in the
affected areas, prepare a telecommunication infrastructure rehabilitation plan,
and help develop a national plan for emergency communications as part of the
Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean. As well, in the event of
other natural disasters or major telecommunication network failures, ITU will
assist governments in preparing technical specifications and investment projects
needed for infrastructure procurement while helping to prepare the documentation
required to source funding for the investment projects.
ITU Ships 14 Portable Satellite Terminals to Sri Lanka
ITU, with its partner Inmarsat, has responded to the urgent communication
needs in the Tsunami affected countries by providing free portable satellite
terminals for emergency use, while they rebuild their telecommunication
infrastructures. 14 of these terminals have been sent to Sri Lanka as well as an
expert on their deployment.
ITU Committed to an Early Warning System for Disaster Reduction
The creation of disaster resistant telecommunications networks has always
been a strategic imperative to mitigate the effects of natural disasters.
Whether for the telegraph, the radio and television and more recently the
Internet, ITU work has developed hundreds of included technical standards to
reduce degradation or disruption of communication networks as a result of
disasters.
During ITUs 140 year history, disasters have served to remind us that the
most effective approach to telecommunication deployment is one that is highly
focused and takes into account four distinct communication channels. These are:
First, citizen to authority: ITU has and will continue to
focus on providing ‘last mile’ telecommunications solutions for disaster
prevention, mitigation and relief. These solutions, which facilitate
communications between citizens and authorities in times of emergency
include special numbers such as 911 in North America or 112 in Europe.
These telephone numbers provide instant connections to emergency
response teams. While initiatives such as these may pose some regulatory
challenges, they can be overcome with conditions on telecommunication
licensing.
Next, communications from authority to authority: ITU is
committed to help countries establish sound communication systems
between national agencies involved in disaster management — monitoring
centres, police, fire brigades, field rescue teams.
Thirdly, authority to citizen: This may be the most critical
communication step of all, if citizens are to be warned of an impending
disaster and to get instructions on how they should respond. The events
in South Asia have shown that any gap in the communication chain from
the time of the warning to the time of the rescue can cause terrible
loss of lives. Until recently, radio and television broadcasts have been
the essential communication tools for authority-to-citizen warnings.
Internet web sites, and SMS ‘cell broadcast’ messages to mobile phones,
are now playing an increasingly important role.
Finally, citizen to citizen: The social concerns of those in
the affected regions must be addressed, as well as the anxiety of their
relatives who want information as to their health and safety. Again,
radio and television, the Internet and mobile telephony are critical
methods to address this need.
ITU’s commitment to an early warning system for disaster reduction, which
incorporates telecommunications as a key component, has been made through its
participation in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction, the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan 18-22
January and its participation in the Ministerial Meeting on Regional Cooperation
on Tsunami Early Warning, which was held in Phuket, Thailand 28-29 January.
The Tsunami — A Wake-Up Call for Technological Cooperation
At first glance the only thing that the sinking of the Titanic last century
and the South-East Asian earthquake and tsunami of this century would appear to
have in common is the fact that they both involved the sea. However, there are
striking similarities in the outpouring of humanity and the calls for the
introduction of an early warning system that followed.
In both instances the technology existed that might have prevented such a
loss of life. In the case of the Titanic, the SOS messages sent by the Titanic's
radio operator went unheeded by ships that were within rescue distance because,
at the time, it was not mandatory for ships at sea to monitor round-the-clock
radiotelegraph broadcasts for distress signals. This changed following the
sinking of the Titanic, when political will and global standards were put in
place to ensure that radio distress signals would be listened to every hour of
every day.
ITU expects the same result from the events of 26 December. As was the case
almost a century ago, the information and communication technologies exist today
that could have mitigated such an enormous loss of life. Even some of the
necessary technical standards are in place to ensure these technologies could be
put to better use in disasters. For example, two years ago, ITU Member States
took a decision that allows for prioritization of calls in an emergency. This
means that when disaster strikes, telecom networks can be effectively cleared of
non-urgent telephone calls. International agreements such as these will be
essential to make any early-warning disaster system developed by the
international community both practical and effective. But there are still many
areas that would benefit from "best practices" on what to do from the time a
warning of an impending natural disaster is issued to relief operations,
including the information flow between seismic data centres to authorities,
authorities-to-authorities and authorities-to citizens.
Potentially, one of the most effective technological tools available to warn
citizens maybe the mobile phone, which is becoming increasingly available and
affordable in both the developed and developing world. Among its many
technological strengths is the fact that a warning message — either voice or
text — can be broadcast to a specific geographic mobile ‘cell’ to warn of a
pending disaster.
However, to utilize information and communication technologies for disaster
prevention two things are necessary: political will and international
cooperation. For now there appears to be an abundance of both. The first step is
to identify what went wrong in the communication chain and put in place the
standards and procedures needed to avoid another tragedy of this scope.
The loss of life from the sinking of the Titanic, however tragic, resulted in
sea travel and transport becoming much safer for all. However, it appears the
critical lessons from a century ago about the importance of technology in
disaster prevention must be relearned if we are to use today’s infinitely more
sophisticated telecommunication systems to make the world safer from disasters
in this century.
About ITU
