Preparing for the worst with telecom

March 13, 2006

As telecommunications bureaucrats from across the globe debate in the Qatari capital on how to standardize telecommunications infrastructure worldwide, they are united at least on one issue: More use can be made of existing technologies to prepare for and even prevent disasters.

The International Telecommunications Union will conclude its weeklong conference on world telecommunications development Wednesday evening, but it is already clear that delegates are pushing for more cooperation among nations to ensure telecommunications plays a key role in mitigating disasters and providing relief operations.

Until now, such efforts have been on an ad hoc basis, as the United Nations agency merely reacted in response to major international disasters such as the Asian tsunami of December 2004 and the Pakistani earthquake the following year. In both cases, however, the organization was one of the first relief agencies to arrive on site and provide the necessary telecommunications infrastructure including satellite links and Internet access for medical purposes.

Since then, however, the ITU has set up a special task force specializing not only in responding to but also preparing for emergency situations as well. Specifically, the group has focused on bringing telephones and computers to some of the most remote and most impoverished countries in the world, which are also some of the most vulnerable to natural disasters, by creating multi-community telecenters in countries such as Samoa and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Rim.

Getting such poor and isolated areas wired and connected with the rest of the world "is not mission impossible," said Cosmas Zavazava, the head of the emergency telecommunications development bureau. In an interview with United Press International Monday Zavazava said that in June the ITU set up 10 centers each in Samoa and the Solomon islands, all with about 15 computers. The plan is not just to have the computers with Internet access available, but also to train people to use them and to have the facility act as a de facto business center for the community, providing everything from phone to photocopying services. Most importantly, the person responsible for running the center would also be the point person for agencies such as the ITU when it came to dealing with natural disasters.

So if the alarm of an impending tsunami were given by the World Meteorological Organization or any other group, it would be the responsibility of the person heading the telecenter to raise the alarm across the community, including using loudspeakers, whistles and any other means to get the message out to the maximum number of people quickly.

"We hope to have 10 more centers next year" whether or not the ITU would provide additional funding, the head of the Samoan delegation Gisa Fuatai Purcell told UPI. She pointed out that nearly 80 percent of the island nation was in rural areas with little or no access to phones or computers. Indeed for many users of the telecenters, they had never seen a computer until last summer, and yet even older villagers have embraced the computer and the information it brings, thereby boosting computer literacy in addition to providing emergency preparedness in a single stroke.

Indeed, the idea of setting up telecenters has taken off considerably, and the ITU has since set up centers in Burundi and Rwanda, putting up about $1 million in each, while the respective governments have footed part of the bill as well.

"We take a multi-stakeholder approach," Zavazava said, adding that ensuring governments as well as private-sector involvement in projects were crucial to their long-term success. In fact, in light of the organization's success in Pakistan, companies such as Thuraya, a telecommunications group of the United Arab Emirates, have expressed interest in getting involved in the project, the ITU official said.

Of course, building telecommunications centers in some of the world's poorest countries is not the only way for technology to play a role in averting natural crises. Other disaster-mitigation initiatives include having more countries adopt the Tampere Convention. Currently accepted by 35 countries, the agreement allows signatory nations to allow the telecommunications equipment of each country to be allowed through swiftly, particularly at times of crisis.

Oftentimes when relief groups arrive on the scene of a disaster, assistance is held up because their telecommunications equipment needs to go through customs.

"That takes up a lot of time, when time is so valuable, "Zavazava said.

He pointed out that when the ITU went to Pakistan, it was one of the first groups to provide aid, which Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf "acknowledged publicly too" for its timely and effective intervention at a time of national disaster, most notably for providing telemedicine technology, and hitting the ground running on time "was critical."

Other issues that the ITU is working on include having an open standard among all global carriers so that mobile phones can be used regardless of where they are, in addition to coming up with an emergency number that is universal. Currently, emergency access numbers differ from country to country, so unless a traveler looks up a number ahead of time, he or she is unlikely to be able to reach the police force or hospital in a timely manner.

Another project that is under way is to get television sets and mobile phones to switch on automatically and provide updates on emergency situations as they evolve.

"We need to demystify technology ... or put faith in just one technology," Zavazava said, adding that it was necessary for countries of every income level to be able to access information on looming disasters and be prepared to act on them accordingly.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International