In the past decade the SADC Region has been one of the most disaster-prone regions in Africa. From the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2014) to the cyclones Idai and Kenneth (2019), many have lost their lives and loved ones, millions have been displaced and there has been unprecedented amount of damage such as loss of crops, destruction to property and essential infrastructure. In particular, these tropical cyclones, which were the worst to hit the Southern Africa region, brought about strong winds and heavy rains causing catastrophic flash flooding. The economic, social, and environmental consequences of disasters are long-lasting and rehabilitation costs are a high percentage of Gross National Product (GNP) in SADC Member States.
When such disasters strike, often local telecommunications/ICT systems get disrupted and communications may be unavailable during the emergency. This calls for an urgent need to establish effective telecommunications links for disaster response and coordination, especially for critical public safety agencies such as fire, police, ambulance, coast guard, customs and border patrol, defence force, etc to enable them to communicate with each other. Hence, ICT services must be reliable and available when needed, including the rapid deployment of temporary ICT services in priority areas in the wake of a disaster. More precisely, telecommunications/ICT play a critical role in disaster detection, mitigation (prevention), preparedness, response and relief, recovery and rehabilitation. The assurances of unhindered use of telecommunications/ICT equipment and services is key.
Development of the SADC Model NETP is one of the flagship projects from the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP) and is a key strategic intervention stipulated under the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-30.
With support from ITU, an assessment was drafted to capture the state-of-play in terms of NETP, policy, legal and regulatory frameworks regarding ICTs for disaster management, including early warning and monitoring systems and overall risk on the ICT infrastructure and contingency planning for when emergencies and disasters occur in the SADC Region. The SADC NETP Situational Analysis Report has been validated at this Validation Workshop. The workshop had 238 participants.
The workshop included presentation of the draft Situational Analysis Report of SADC NETP, and discussed various thematic areas relating to emergency telecommunications planning including the following:
- Tampere Convention;
- Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR);
- Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM);
- SADC Emergency Numbering Plan;
- Mobile solutions and best practices for Emergency Telecommunications ;
- Satellite Communications solutions and best practices for Emergency Telecommunications;
- Early Warning Systems:
- Early Warning for all (EW4A) Action Plan; and
- Cell Broadcast and Location-Based SMS.
- Overview of the ITU Academy Course on Developing National Emergency Telecommunication Plans;
- High Level Introduction to the Development of NETP;
- Implementation of Comprehensive NETPs; and
- Harmonisation of Regulatory Environment on Emergency Telecommunications in SADC.
