The Tsunami - A Wake-Up Call for Technological Cooperation

At first glance the only thing that the sinking of the Titanic last century and the South-East Asian earthquake and tsunami of this century would appear to have in common is the fact that they both involved the sea. However, there are striking similarities in the outpouring of humanity and the calls for the introduction of an early warning system that followed.

In both instances the technology existed that might have prevented such a loss of life. In the case of the Titanic, the SOS messages sent by the Titanic's radio operator went unheeded by ships that were within rescue distance because, at the time, it was not mandatory for ships at sea to monitor round-the-clock radiotelegraph broadcasts for distress signals. This changed following the sinking of the Titanic, when political will and global standards were put in place to ensure that radio distress signals would be listened to every hour of every day.

The ITU expects the same result from the events of 26 December. As was the case almost a century ago, the information and communication technologies exist today that could have mitigated such an enormous loss of life. Even some of the necessary technical standards are in place to ensure these technologies could be put to better use in disasters. For example, two years ago, ITU Member States took a decision that allows for prioritization of calls in an emergency. This means that when disaster strikes, telecom networks can be effectively cleared of non-urgent telephone calls. International agreements such as these will be essential to make any early-warning disaster system developed by the international community both practical and effective. But there are still many areas that would benefit from "best practices" on what to do from the time a warning of an impending natural disaster is issued to relief operations, including the information flow between seismic data centres to authorities, authorities-to-authorities and authorities-to citizens.

Potentially, one of the most effective technological tools available to warn citizens maybe 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.

The loss of life from the sinking of the Titanic, however tragic, resulted in sea travel and transport becoming much safer for all. However, it appears the critical lessons from a century ago about the importance of technology in disaster prevention must be relearned if we are to use today's infinitely more sophisticated telecommunication systems to make the world safer from disasters in this century.


Post-Tsunami Telecommunication Links Strengthened
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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, the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications, which, along with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has been a driving force in drafting and promoting the Convention.

The special session, held in Salle XI of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, 18h15 - 19h30 22 February, included an overview of ITU work in Telecoms for Disaster Relief, which is outlined below.

250 000 USD Allocated for Tsunami Telecommunications Relief

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 Ships 14 Portable Satellite Terminals to Sri Lanka

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.

During ITUs 140 year history, disasters have served to remind us that the most effective approach to telecommunication deployment is one that is highly focused and takes into account four distinct communication channels. These are:

- First, citizen to authority: ITU has and will continue to focus on providing 'last mile' telecommunications solutions for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief. These solutions, which facilitate communications between citizens and authorities in times of emergency include special numbers such as 911 in North America or 112 in Europe. These telephone numbers provide instant connections to emergency response teams. While initiatives such as these may pose some regulatory challenges, they can be overcome with conditions on telecommunication licensing.

- Next, communications from authority to authority: ITU is committed to help countries establish sound communication systems between national agencies involved in disaster management - monitoring centres, police, fire brigades, field rescue teams.

- Thirdly, authority to citizen: This may be the most critical communication step of all, if citizens are to be warned of an impending disaster and to get instructions on how they should respond. The events in South Asia have shown that any gap in the communication chain from the time of the warning to the time of the rescue can cause terrible loss of lives. Until recently, radio and television broadcasts have been the essential communication tools for authority-to-citizen warnings. Internet web sites, and SMS 'cell broadcast' messages to mobile phones, are now playing an increasingly important role.

- Finally, citizen to citizen: The social concerns of those in the affected regions must be addressed, as well as the anxiety of their relatives who want information as to their health and safe