Effective use of telecom & electronic media in disaster-risk reduction

1. Effective use of telecom & electronic media in disaster-risk reduction Rohan Samarajiva Presentation at meeting convened by Ministry of Disaster Management & Human Rights 7 September 2007, Colombo

2. Agenda • Disaster cycle and the role of ICTs • Central role of government • Complementary roles of community-based organizations and private sector • Lessons from the HazInfo Last-Mile research project for effective communication to government first responders (including media & telcos) • The community-centered model and the citizen-centered model • Research results in summary and conclusions • Public warning • Radio and TV • Cell broadcasts

3. The disaster cycle Key role for telecom & electronic media

4. Physical and symbolic worlds, absent linking technologies Mediated interpersonal Physical world where hazards occur Symbolic world where action originates

5. The physical, the symbolic & their linking through ICTs, simplified Physical world where hazards occur Warnings (telecom) Mediated interpersonal TV, Radio & Cell broadcasts Symbolic world where action originates Warnings (telecom) More time to run; more lives saved

6. Telecom and e-media are important, but are only part of the solution • Ability to move information at the speed of light can increase time to act to reduce risks of disasters • Many organizational problems must be solved • At level of community • At level of first responders • At national early warning center • Among the carriers of alerts and warnings • Effective warning must be complemented by preparedness plans, evacuation capabilities, etc. • If we are to save livelihoods and property, in addition to lives, a lot more has to be done on risk reduction

7. Early warning: who should do what? • Early warning is a classic public good  Government must supply • Early warning is based on incomplete, probabilistic information and judgment  Government must take the responsibility of issuing warning/alert • 75% of tsunami warnings in the Pacific are false; false warnings can be dangerous • Government gets hazard information from external sources or internal sources • Judgment must be applied before national warnings/alerts are issued

8. Early warning: who should do what? • Operators of telecom networks and electronic media (public-sector and private-sector) must transmit the message to first responders and citizens • Ground-level first responders must play the key role in evacuations and response • Community preparedness is important if warnings are to save lives  community-based organizations (e.g., Sarvodaya) are best at this • Includes improving the ability of communities to receive warnings and alerts

9. Media & Telecom Operators Citizens National early warning center First responders Early warning chain (standard form)

10. National early warning center National early warning center Villagers Villagers ERP1 ERP1 ICT Guardians ICT Guardians ERP2 ERP2 SCDMC SCDMC ERP3 ERP3 ERP4 ERP4 Early warning chain (community based; applicable to Last-Mile HazInfo project) Emergency Response Plan coordinator Media Govt 1st Responders From domestic & international sources SCDMC will never issue warnings; only alerts so that communities can be better prepared to receive the warning from government

11. Pilot project, Jan 2006-Dec 2007: Research questions • What technologies are best for reaching communities? • What emergency response plans are best for saving lives of villagers? • How important is training? • How significant is the level of organization in the village? • How does the intervention affect women? • Will the ICTs be integrated into everyday life?

12. Pilot project almost completed • Train-the trainer program of 7 days in April 2006 • Live tests in 2007 • Coordinated with regional government authorities • Now in analysis and dissemination phase • Dissemination event in March 2007 • Project Manager invited to speak at African region event in Alexandria, Egypt, April 2007 • More coming . . . Including session at Global Knowledge 3 conference in Kuala Lumpur, December 2007

13. Media &Telecom Operators Citizens National early warning center First responders Lessons for communication to first responders

14. Results relevant to government’s communications with its first responders • What technologies are best for reaching communities? • What emergency response plans are best for saving lives of villagers? • How important is training? • How significant is the level of organization in the village? • How does the intervention affect women? • Will the ICTs be integrated into everyday life?

15. Pilot project design: 32 villages; 5 technologies AREA: Addressable Radio for Emergency Alerts, Class B configuration of WorldSpace System MoP: Java enabled Mobile Phone, Dialog-MicroImage innovation MiDews application RAD: Remote Alarm Device, Dialog-University-of-Moratuwa, MicroImage Innovation FxP: CDMA Wireless Fixed Phones with 1xRTT functions, Sri Lanka Telecom VSAT: Very Small Aperture Terminals coupled with Internet Public Alerting System Innovative-Tech & Solana Networks

16. Remote Alarm Device GSM Mobile Phone CDMA Fixed Phone Addressable Radios for Emergency Alerts Very Small Aperture Terminals ICTs used in reaching communities

17. LM-HWS Components and their functions • Staff at the HIH monitor hazard events around-the-clock • When an “Event of Interest” is detected, HIH follows a protocol that may result in the issuance of a message to ICT Guardians over multiple modes • ICT-Gs receive messages and acknowledge receipt • If urgent or high-priority alerts, ICT-Gs notify local ERP-Coordinators in the community using locally agreed on methods • In real cases, ICT-Gs and ERP-Cs will await official warnings • In live tests, ERP-Cs activated local ERP and were timed

18. Performance Evaluation of the Elements

19. Example of Calculating the Reliabilities The scenario is based on the Panama (Ampara District) simulation data Tsunami Event occurred at 10:15am and will impact at 11:45 External source issued email bulletin at 10:25am HIH Monitor receives email at 10:35am HIH Monitor issues CAP alert at 10:46am ICT Guardian receives CAP alert over AREA-B at 11:02am ERP Coordinator receives alert information at 11:08am Community completes evacuation at 11:08am Calculate the Reliability of HIH Monitor activities Assumption: since this is the first set of trials and the LM-HWS has no data to calculate an ‘expected time we set (i.e. best case scenario)‏

20. Effectiveness of ICT terminals • Measured as a function of a set of 11 discrete parameters • Language diversity • Full CAP capability • Audio and text medium availability • Bi-directionality • Total cost of ownership • DC power consumption • Daily utilization • Acknowledgment of message receipt • Active alerting functionality (wakeup) • Weight of wireless ICT (portability) • Signal coverage • A score between 0 and 1 is given for each parameter

21. Benchmark • 95% Reliability & Effectiveness • Current Performance • Reliability = 78% • Effectiveness = 83% • Recommendations • Improve acknowledgement of alert • Develop a single-input, multiple-output software application to speed relaying of alert via multiple ICTs; i.e., “P2P Multilanguage CAP Broker”

22. NA NA NA – Not Applicable Recommendation: Consider deployment of multiple devices for complementary redundancy  higher reliability and effectiveness

23. Preliminary conclusions for communicating with first responders • Community-based approach and first responder communication (as opposed to direct-to-citizen approach) requires • Bidirectionality of media, for local reporting and acknowledgement  No stand-alone AREA sets • CAP compliance and ability to send long messages in multiple languages  AREA sets in combination with other media • Mobile has potential, after software problems solved, but script limitations make it an also-ran for community-based approach and for first-responder communication • Though very useful as backup; and complementary device

24. Media &Telecom Operators Citizens National early warning center First responders Public warning

25. Key components • National Early Warning Center  media and telecom operators • Including verification and safeguards • Media and telecom operators  citizens • At home • At work • En route • Etc. • Instead, focus on most difficult cases • Citizen in train • Citizen at Yala beach • Others will be automatically solved • Citizen  EWC

26. Early Warning Center  Media & Telcos • Protocols for fast decision making re issuance of warnings/alerts [Internal to government] • Procedure for issuing large number of warnings/alerts quickly and reliably using multiple media, including acknowledgements and redundancy [Decision is government’s; but best to use Common Alerting Protocol based single-input, multi-output, multi-language software solution]

27. Solution • Filling in of standard template that includes automatic translation based on look up of dictionaries • Single button transmission in multiple media and multiple languages • Achievable in a few months • Need to develop internal protocols • CAP broker software • Equipment at media newsrooms and telco operations rooms • Procedures for verification that does not involve a one-on-one phone call • Sarvodaya HIH can be used as a test bed

28. Scale of the problem • Imagine sequentially dialing and giving the message to • Television channels (7?) • Radio channels (10?) • Telecom operators (8) • If each call takes 3 minutes, need 75 minutes for the whole set • 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami reached Komari/Arugam Bay coastline within 90 mts of earthquake • Detection-monitoring people require 15 mts minimum to issue a warning, so all we have in 75 mts • Faster we get the message out, more time for people to respond

29. Citizen in train: No radio; some mobiles Credit: Shahidul Alam, Drik Pictures Library, 2005

30. Solution • Robust communication with train guard and driver • Consider them “first responders” • Not part of citizen-warning problem • Cell broadcasts • Immune to congestion • Reaches all phones within a base-station coverage area • No numbers required • More information: • http://www.ceasa-int.org/library/ • Mark Wood had meetings with operators in 2006 • Dr Dileeka Dias agreed to serve as Sri Lanka liaison with CEASA

31. Citizen at Yala Beach: No radio; some mobiles; maybe coverage Credit: Howard Banwell: http://i.pbase.com/g6/09/644509/2/77008327.lgaUjTlf.jpg

32. Solution • No coverage • No solution • Has coverage • Cell broadcast

33. What is required for use of cell broadcast for public warning? • Technical committees constituted by DMC, Met, TRC, tel operators, invited experts (software and emergency response), for • Truncated CAP message formats • Handset specifications • Language requirements • Regional targeting • Legal safeguards • Trials • Publicity, etc. • How long? • Trials possible by 26 December 2007

34. Citizen  Early Warning Center • EWC is a professionally operated 24/7 organization • Need to focus on their urgent tasks • Cannot be distracted by phone calls • Suggest mobilizing 1919 Government Information Center to handle citizen inquiries • Cut-over procedures • How to transfer information to respond with • Publicity