Statement of the situation or prob​​lem

The importance of telecommunications and ICTs to support disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery is well established. Over the study period from 2022 to 2025, under Question 3/1 ITU-D Study Group 1 examined the use of ICTs in disaster risk reduction with case studies, examples of technologies, applications and planning for ICT resilience for disaster management. Before that, during the study period 2018-2021, the focus had been on the utilization of telecommunications/ICTs for disaster preparedness, mitigation and response' with focus on drills and exercise.
Disasters—ranging from earthquakes and hurricanes to floods and droughts—claim approximately 40,000 to 50,000 lives each year, on average, over the last few decades. In 2023, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 399 disasters related to natural hazards. These events resulted in over 86,000 fatalities and affected more than 93 million people with economic losses exceeding $200 billion.
While these figures represent a relatively small fraction of global deaths, disasters can have disproportionately large impacts on specific populations. Extreme events can kill tens to hundreds of thousands of people in a single instance. In the 20th century, it was not uncommon for disasters to claim over a million lives annually.
Beyond loss of life, disasters also lead to significant displacement, with millions of people left homeless each year. The economic costs of such events can be severe and difficult to recover from, particularly in lower-income countries.
However, peoples are not helpless in the face of disasters. The number of deaths from disasters has significantly decreased over the last century, thanks to early warning systems, better infrastructure, improved agricultural productivity, and more coordinated responses.
As climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme events, strengthening resilience will be critical to prevent reversing our recent progress. To achieve this, ITU-D must continue working towards enhancing resilience in vulnerable countries, leveraging Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and other strategies to reduce the vulnerability of populations and ensure that no one at risk is left behind.
Most developed and developing1 countries recognize emergency telecommunications as a priority and are taking steps to:

• build national emergency telecommunications plans;
• develop and implement early warning systems; and
• test that technologies and systems are in place and ready to use to ensure disaster resilience.
Based on the past three years' experience, it is felt that during the next phase of study the focus should be on preparing: checklists; guidance on how to prepare standard operating procedures as well as best practices for countries to use new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies to create resiliency in disaster response and recovery.
In view of the above, the focus of the study Question for the year 2026-2029 should remain: ''The use of Telecommunications/ICTs for disaster response and recovery​.

Question o​​r issue for study

1) Utilizing terrestrial and space-based and integrated telecommunications/ICTs to assist affected area for disaster prediction, detection, monitoring, early warning, response, relief and recovery, including best practices/guidelines for an efficient regulatory environment to enable rapid deployment and implementation of adaptive strategies and information sharing based on specific needs.
2) Sharing national experiences and case studies on the use of telecommunications/ICTs for disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery, including response to pandemics, and analysing lessons learned and common themes between them. 3) Review the role that administrations and Sector Members and other relevant organizations and stakeholders have in collaboratively addressing disaster management and the effective use of telecommunications/ICTs, particularly in the areas of planning for ICT resilience for disaster management, including:
– Ensuring proper infrastructure design to be resilient to any potential connectivity interruption (proactive design dimension);
– How to manage restoring connectivity due to any network malfunctioning or failure (reactive operational aspect);
– Developing measures for ensuring telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, services and devices remain resilient and available during emergencies.
4) Promote enablers for more resilient communication networks and for the deployment of emergency communication systems and the appropriate telecommunications/ICT services and technologies, for emergency preparedness, response and recovery.
5) Sharing case studies and best practices to ensure that persons with disabilities, among all people can use ICTs for disaster management and risk reduction.(in collaboration with Question 5/1).
6) Sharing national experiences, case studies, and best practices for the elaboration, implementation and refinement of national and regional disaster-management plans or frameworks for the use of telecommunications/ICTs in disaster and/or emergency situations, including pandemics, working in coordination with the relevant BDT programmes, regional offices and other partners. This would include a guide for countries to develop their National Emergency Telecommunication Plans, operating procedures and, early warning systems.
7) Study the use of AI, digital twins, and other relevant tools in new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies for disaster risk prediction, reduction, and management (in collaboration with Question 5/2).​

Expected ​output​

It is proposed that succinct outputs summarizing case studies and capturing lessons learned, best practices and tools/templates will be prepared and presented to the study Question for approval. Additionally, throughout the study period, Question 3/1 welcomes contributions on new technologies, systems and applications for disaster communications and management for mitigation, preparedness, risk reduction, response and recovery, as well as considerations to support implementation. The focus will be on both technology examples and deployment case studies of new and emerging systems and applications for disaster communications and response. a) Output reports reflecting the studies outlined the section above, and possible revisions to the Report of the previous study period, as appropriate. b) Periodic dissemination of relevant data emanating from the organizations and groups listed in § 7 below. Periodic updates on studies taking place in the other ITU Sectors. c) National experiences on topics as outlined in §2 above.