The Second Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference (MHEWC) Session 1: The "Last Mile", was co-organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). The session took place on 13 May 2019, at WMO Headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Main objectives of the session
While considerable progress has been made both in terms of information and communication technology (ICT) access and use, and in advancing early warning systems (EWS), reaching vulnerable, marginal groups in societies continues to be an issue. This can be due to both difficulties in accessing or understanding alerts or to a lack of understanding on what actions to take once the alert is received. By focusing on the challenge of ensuring no-one is left behind, this session aimed at providing an overview of key issues that needed to be taken into account for effective EWS and the role that innovations in information and technology can play in ensuring timely delivery of information to all. These include:
- Sharing experiences and highlighting recent innovations in the development of Information and Communication Technologies that can be effectively used to reach vulnerable communities, including those in remote locations;
- Ensuring a people-centered approach when developing an early warning system that takes into account people’s needs, their perceptions of risk, how different community members access and communicate information;
- Highlighting the importance on the way information is communicated – messages delivered need to be tailored to the local context (e.g. local languages, use of symbols for illiterate people, etc);
- Discussing the use of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) to send all-hazard, all-media altering messages;
- Understanding how people respond to alerts - at times people are able to access the warning but might not respond to it as expected - looking at issues linked to how information is communicated, if it is trusted (looking at identification of source, historic accuracy, confidence level, delivery through a trusted partner and relating to the user’s prior knowledge) and whether people know what to do when receiving a warning are key for the effectiveness of an EWS
Moderator
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Mr David Johnston, Senior Scientist, New Zealand’s Geological Survey (GNS Science) & Director, Joint Centre for Disaster Research, School of Psychology, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Keynote Speaker
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Ms Julia Chasco, Argentine Weather Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina: A country using technologies to deliver early warning alerts to people in risk areas - [presentation]
Panellists
- Mr Simon Gray, Senior Vice President of Humanitarian Affairs, Eutelsat and Board Director of the Global VSAT Forum (GVF), Paris, France - [presentation]
- Mr Nicolas Bidault, Head, Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM), World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand
- Mr Achala Navartne, Country representative to Bangladesh, American Red Cross - [presentation]
- Ms Kim Mallalieu, Deputy Chairman, Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, Senior Lecturer, The University of West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago - [presentation]
