Post-Tsunami Telecommunication Links Strengthened
28-02-2005 (Geneva)
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 (ITU).
ITU will provide 250 000 (USD) from its TELECOM 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, 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.
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.
Potentially, one of the most effective technological tools available to warn citizens may be 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.
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 (ITU).
ITU will provide 250 000 (USD) from its TELECOM 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, 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.
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.
Potentially, one of the most effective technological tools available to warn citizens may be 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.
Related themes/countries
· Tsunami in South Asia
· Maldives: News archive
· Indonesia: News Archive 2005
· Sri Lanka: News Archive 2005
· Asia and the Pacific: News Archive 2005
· News Archives 2005
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