World Telecommunication Day 1997

To commemorate World Telecommunication Day 1997, a number of Geneva-based organizations have designed a special Humanitarian Telecommunications Centre to show the telecommunications technologies in use by aid agencies around the world. The Centre will be open to the public from Saturday, 17 May to Thursday, 21 May, inclusive. The Centre will be located next to the ITU Tower on the lawn area known as the Espace vert, which is at the corner of avenue Giuseppe Motta and rue de Montbrillant, just across the road from the Place des Nations. Opening hours for the centre are listed below.
10h30-12h30	Official Inauguration of the World Telecommunication Day Communication Centre by the ITU Secretary-General, to take place at the Espace vert, Place des Nations. There will be a symbolic release of carrier pigeons to highlight the theme of communication over distance with the exchange of official messages with partners in humanitarian telecommunications. The Inauguration will be followed by an official tour of the Centre.
	Official reception and cocktail for guests and media, to take place at the ITU (Salle des pas perdus). There will be a prize-giving ceremony for the winners of a children’s drawing contest, which was organized by the Canton of Geneva around the theme of ‘Telecommunications and Humanitarian Assistance’ at the Geneva International School. The best entries will be exhibited in the Centre.
13h00	Opening of the Centre to the public
Description of the Humanitarian Telecommunications Centre
The World Telecommunication Day Humanitarian Telecommunications Centre is designed around six operational areas which will showcase the kinds of telecommunications technologies currently in use in the field, as well as those which may gain a prominent role in the field of humanitarian assistance in the future. The six operational areas will be:
HF radio	HF (shortwave) radio links (data mode) to UN and other professional networks. Communications will be established with stations of the United Nations networks in the Great Lakes Region of Africa and with those of other partners, including the stations of the maritime and aeronautical services which often support humanitarian operations
VHF radio	Live VHF voice and data networks with a repeater station and VHF data links. As another application of VHF/UHF radio links, the World Meteorological Organization will operate a receiving station for live meteorological satellite images.
Satellites	All types of Inmarsat terminals (A, B, C, M, mini-M) will operate in the different modes (voice, fax, data, pictures, video), establishing live communications with relief workers in Azerbaijan, Iran, Sierra Leone and other locations.
Radio Amateurs	The full spectrum form CW (morse telegraphy) to SSB voice and data (packet radio) will present this indispensable element of emergency telecommunications. Under the coordination of the International Amateur Radio Club (IARC station 4U1ITU), special links will be maintained with the Emergency Operations Centre on the island of Grand Cayman, the Headquarters stations of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) as well as special event stations worldwide.
Internet	‘Relief Web’ and other information systems will have on-line terminals, demonstrating the process of gathering, processing and distributing actual information, and separate terminals will allow data communication via e-mail/internet and HF radio links. On 21 May, the Internet position will be part of the Scandinavian Interactive Media Event, SIME-97, organized by the Swedish Government, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and academic institutions.
Videoconferencing and video shows	Live links, including a videoconference with the site of the largest WTD-97 event in the USA at the "South Fork Ranch" in Dallas, Texas, on 17 May Demonstration of a portable video system working through a land mobile satellite terminal, used by the United States Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Continuous video shows related to emergency telecommunications, provided by various partners

The WTD-97 Web Site has been established by the ITU with the technical support of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It is available at http://www.itu.int/PPI/wtd