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Using ICT for Effective Disaster Management Forum -

A Summary Report on Sessions and Panel Discussions

Heritance Hotel, Ahungalle, Sri Lanka

26th - 28th June 2006

Today: 10 July 2006

Contact:

Nuwan WaidyanathaProject ManagerLast Mile Hazard Warning SystemsLIRNEasia, 12 Balcombe PlaceColombo 08, Sri Lankatele - +94 773 710 394fax - +94 112 675 [email protected]

[email protected]


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Table of Contents

1.Overview...................................................................................................................................................................... 22.Background.................................................................................................................................................................. 23.Attendees...................................................................................................................................................................... 34.Recommended Matrix Assignments............................................................................................................................. 55.Session Notes............................................................................................................................................................... 66.Session Panel Discussion Notes................................................................................................................................. 147.Demos........................................................................................................................................................................ 168.Networking Events..................................................................................................................................................... 179.Rapporteur Final Remarks......................................................................................................................................... 17

1. Overview

This report presents a summary of the comments and observations made in the presentations andpanel discussions concerning the 7 sessions of the Forum: Using ICTs for Effective Disaster Management,which here on shall be referred to as the Forum. It is understood by the author that the Forum isan output of the CTO regional capacity building programs.

The comments and observations made in this report are based on the outline of the Forum'sprogram, CTO suggested disaster management matrix, from observations made, and conversationswith stakeholders at a Forum held at the Heritance Hotel in Ahungalla, Sri Lanka, 26-29 January2006.

The intent of this report is to identify issues for further consideration regarding the social scientific

methodology of using ICTs in Disaster Management and to provide a set of notes that mention thevarious core activities of the participating stakeholders.

Note that the observations made and recorded are purely the authors perception and does not tie orobligate any other organization to what is stated in this document.

2. Background

The understanding is that human beings are more prone to disasters. Statistics show that the NorthAmericas and Asia are the most vulnerable regions in the world. As result of the developed nationshaving invested in disaster mitigation they have reduced their risks. However, south Asia has yet toapply the formulas of risk reduction and embed these concepts in their national development plans.

It is understood that Disaster Management is a balanced collaboration between the stakeholders policy makers, regulators, operators, and civil societies. The objective of the forum was to bringtogether various stakeholders in the disaster management arena, in the region, together to discusseffectively using ICTs in Disaster Management.


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Sessions were divided in to a table with stakeholders in the rows and disaster management life cyclecategories in the columns. Further each life cycle category was addressed by one or more of thespeakers in the designated sessions. The sessions spanned one and a half days. The second half ofthe second day was a field visit to observe the tsunami reconstruction. Day 3 was reserved todevelop the Logical Framework proposed by the CTO.

3. Attendees

Assumptions -- All stakeholders attending the Forum use ICTs in one or more ways in their normalline of business. Other stakeholder activities that are not relevant to using ICT are disregarded.

Tabl e 1: Organiza tions a tte ndi ng t he Forum and Main line o f bu sines s

Participa tingOr g aniza tion Main line of Bu s ine s s

All India DisasterMitigation Institute(AIDMI)

Using GIS to map slums and provide resources for all disastermitigation programs

Asia Disaster PreparednessCenter (ADPC)

Working towards disaster reduction in the Asia pacific region

Bangladesh DisasterPreparedness Center(BDPC)

BDPC is a an initiative of the Government of the people's republicof Bangladesh Disaster Management in terms of Community FloodMonitoring and Forecasting (OFDA)

Bangladesh NGOs

Network of Radio andCommunication (BNNRC)

Implementers of the Bangladesh Cyclone Signaling System

Cellular Emergency AlertServices Association(CEASA)

Advocates Cell Broadcasting and works towards improving thetechnology to maximize business for the mobile and related industries

CommonwealthTelecommunicationsOrganization (CTO)

CTO will be conducting 4 Forums in 4 different countries this yeartheir main focus is to promote ICT knowledge in the commonwealthnations

Dialog Telekom Dialog Telekom mainly provides GSM mobile phone services. TheUniversity of Moratuwa Dialog Mobile Communications Labconducts the hardware R&D and Microimage conducts the softwareR&D for the Dialog Disaster Early Warning Network System.

Ericson Ericson Response provides relief and response communication forthe United Nations

InformationCommunicationTelecommunicationAgency(ICTA)

An apex body governed by the President of Sri Lanka that involves inpolicy and direction for the national ICT


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Participa tingOr g aniza tion Main line of Bu s ine s s

Inmartsat Inmarsat provides mobile L Band satellite voice and datacommunications over IP

International Federation ofRecross and Red CrescentSocieties (IFRC)

The country society of IFRD provide a range of services includingdisaster relief, health and social programs, and assistance to peopleaffected by war.

InternationalTelecommunication Union(ITU)

ITU is an organization within the UN where governments and privatesectors participate in telecom networks and services

Lanka Software Foundation(LSF)

Sahana Disaster Management software portal, which is one of themany Free and Open Source Software initiatives of LSF

LIRNEasia ICT reform and regulation research organization committed toimproving the lives of the people in Asia

Mobitel/SLT Mobitel is the GSM mobile solutions provider that was floated off theincumbent Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT)

Sarvodaya Sri Lanka's largest community based organization with presence in15000 villages.

TelecommunicationsAuthority of the Maldives(TAM)

Regulatory body of telecommunications in the Maldives

TelecommunicationsRegulatory Commission SriLanka (TRCSL)

The national regulatory agency for telecommunications in Sri Lank

United NationsInternational Strategy forDisaster Reduction(UNISDR)

A 10 year UN initiative aiming to build disaster resilient communitiesby advocating disaster reduction

United NationsDevelopment Programs(UNDP)

Advocates of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

World Bank Sri Lanka(WB)

The Sri Lankan arm of the World Bank that provides financial andtechnical assistance to the country

WorldSpace Global Data

Solutions (WorldSpace)

WorldSpace provides one way communication voice and data

solutions through L Band frequencies that are received via theWorldSpace digital satellite radio sets.

Young Asia Television(Yatv)

Yatv develops awareness audio/video material that mediates theimpact of war and conflict in the region to the communities


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4. Recommended Matrix Assignments

The table below is the CTO proposed Disaster Management Matrix. An organization occupying acell implies that organization's main line of business contributes in one or more ways to the listedcategory of the Disaster Management Life cycle.

Tabl e 2: Allocation of th e pa r ti cipa ting o rganiza tion s in t he CT O propose d m at r ix

Stakeho lder s

Dis as t e r Mana g e m en t Life c y cle

Preparedness Mitigation Relief Recovery

Policy Makers 1

LIRNEasia

UNISDR

World Bank

ADPC

AIDMI

ITU

2

LIRNEasia

UNISRD

World Bank

ADPC

AIDMI

ITU

3

Sarvodaya

Erickson

ITU

4

Sarvodaya

Erickson

ITU

Regulators 5

ITU

LIRNEasia

TAM

6

ITU

LIRNEasia

TAM

7

ITU

TAM

8

ITU

TAM

Operators 9

Dialog

SLT/Mobitel

10

Dialog

SLT/Mobitel

11

Dialog

Inmarsat

Erickson

12

Dialog

Inmarsat

Erickson

Civil Society 13

Sarvodaya

BDPC

IFRC

AIDMI

14

Sarvodaya

BDPC

IFRC

AIDMI

15

Sarvodaya

BDPC

IFRC

16

Sarvodaya

BDPC

IFRC


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5. Session Notes

Tabl e 3: Main poin t s addr ess e d and r eco m me nda tio n s ma de b y e a c h o f t he s peak e r s

Ses s i on No . &Title

Spea ker s Main Po int s Reco mme nd ations

1. The Cost ofDisasters

Mr. IsmailRadwan,SeniorEconomists,World Bank

Number of Disaster is risingbecause of global changes.

Asia and USA are the countriesmost prone to disasters. 90% of thepeople affected are from Asia.

For each US$ 1 spent on mitigationsaves US$10 in losses

Annual GDP losses 2-15% MDGsthat are threatened by disasters 1.poverty reduction, save children'slives, Make mothers safe, Protectthe environment, a globalpartnership for development

Disasters are a country problem

Meeting the MDGs isdepends whether asuccessful disaster riskreduction stratergy can beput is place.

Always factor in a cost forrisk reduction whencalculating your

development budgetsDevelopment expensesshould focus on disasterMitigation

Christel Rose,regionalProgramOfficer,UNISDR forAsia & thePacific

Hyogo Framework of Action is forDisaster Risk reduction

Protection and resilience should be

in all CBO long term plansNational plan implied communityplans

The National andCommunity level Policymust be taken in to accountwhen developing acomprehensive disastermanagement policy.

Look at the FuterrisiticCommunity when applyingthe framework; i.e.Institutionalizing theprocesses.


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RohanSamarajiva,Executive

Director,LIRNEasia

In the developed world disasters aremeasured in dollars and cents; i.e.Property damage; and in the

developing world disaster ismeasured in terms of human liveslost

All the cases of 2004 tsunamievacuations such as the girl fromUK, Dr. Chris Chapman, Tilly etcdid not involve ICTs

Congestion in communication linesis inevitable cell broadcasting mustbe carefully put in place for

effective disaster communicationNone of this rhetoric matters ifultimately human lives cannot besaved

The National Disaster ManagementPolicy is a flowed. It was not givenadequate time forrecommendations

Government need not doall the work all they need todo is implement the right

policies.

Need community leveldisaster preparedness; i.e.The last-mile.

2. Disaster

ManagementPolicy

Ifthekhhar

Ahmed,ProjectManager,UrbanDisaster RiskManagement,ADPC

There is no community presence in

policy and planning

Disasters is proportional toReporting

Regional records show aninstitution emerging or changingfaces every time a disaster strikes

South East Asian regional nationalpolicies recognize disastermanagement to be a public good;i.e. Government responsibility

Need a Policy, Legal, and

Institutional Frameworks.

Policy and Organizationalstructures must learn from asubjective approach and nota proactive stakeholderapproach.

Need a strong Public andPrivate Partnership.


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MehulPandya,Coordinator

of LearningServices,AIDMI

Disaster Management act requires acommunity prospective; i.e.Community participation in policy

making

Disaster victims can and do useICTs when given a chance

GIS is a proved tool for disastermanagement the science requiresadequate coverage; i.e. More data

Beteween legistation and the endusers there is a Market. Disastersdestroy markets

Civil Society must be givenadequate time to makerecommendations on the NationalDisaster Management Policies

There are no accountabilitymeasures

Disaster victims must betied in to the equation ofthe development goals.

Structures requireaccountability measures at aregional and global level.

GeethikaKarunaratne,UNDP, SriLanka

The Sri Lanka DisasterManagement organizationalstructure

Regional Disaster Managementorganizational structure

National Disaster ManagementPolicy will be available for public toscrutinize soon

3. The Role ofRegulators andthe Creation ofan enabledregulatoryenvironment

Md. RafigulAlam,Chairpersonand NationalDisaster RoskExpert,BNNRC

Bangladesh signaling method forcyclone early warning along withcommunity based preparednessplanning proved to be effective

Communities do not understand

modern warning systemsCommunity based risk managementis the only effective way

Modern warning methodsmust be communityfriendly.


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MohammedAmir, ChiefExecutive,

TAM

Relative to the small population ofMaldives lost a significantpercentage of the populations

Destroyed 62% of the GDP

Biggest disaster recoded in thehistory of Maldives. Noinstitutional structure to managedisasters of the scale of 2004Tsunami

Very low elevation make terrestrialcommunication highly vulnerable (5of the 23 nodes were damaged)

Substantial damage to thetelecommunication Infrastructure

World MeteorologicalOrganization's GlobalCommunications System is nowworking

Telecommunication PolicyObjective is to establish anationwide early warning

systems.

there is a need for earlywarning and emergencycommunication system .

Implement EmergencyAlert via Broadcasting.(EAB)

WisitAtipayakoon,ProjectOfficer, ITU-BDT

Public is encouraged to makerecommendations on ITU-T, ITU-R, and ITU-D to help the worldcommunicate

Case studies have proved HamRadios to be an effective device fordisaster managementcommunication

Tampere convention, shouldInfrastructure be regulatedimmediately after a disaster

Regulators must set thepolicies to enable businesscontinuity and disasterrecovery.

Setup Private sectorpartnerships prior toemergencies.

Use OCHA's centralregister of Disastermanagement Capacities tocreate/maintain a telecomsinventory of human andmaterial resources withcontacts/conditions.

4. Operatorsand DisasterManagement

Ashok Bharti,CountryHead,Inmarsat

Inmarsal BGAN is acomprehensive voice and datacommunication globally workablesolution

Ideal for post disaster firstresponders

Easy to create IP hot spotsanywhere in the world


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ShicuchiOdaka,Managing

Editor forReliefWeb

GDAC is a website for earlywarnings

Links with USGS, PTWC, etcAn effective tool for post disastercommunication

Each country can link theirReliefWeb site to the main site

Mothilal DeSilva, GeneralManagerCorporatePlanning,QualitySystems,Development,and MISDialog

Operators require a short term,medium term and long terminitiative in the Corporate SocialResponsibility programs

Good working relations with the

army allowed for easyreconstruction efforts

66% of damaged GSMinfrastructure restored in 3 days;100% restored in 4 hours

Require partnerships with NGOsworking in the Provinces

Warning customers andemployees must be aCorporate SocialResponsibility.


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5. Preparedness VinyaAriyaratne,Executive

DirectorSarvodaya

Civil Society and Developmentdebates never include CivilSocieties

State must recognize the strengthsof Civil Societies and their role indevelopment

US$ 1.3 billion came as pledges toSri Lanka, less than 50% of thefamilies who were victims of 2004tsunami have been provided withhousing

Tsunami experience brought wavesof compassion

Sarvodaya practices a 5 stagedevelopment process which usestechnology for communitydevelopment, education,empowerment, and disastermanagement

Giving a voice to the effectedthrough Webhamuva

Sarvodaya 5 R approach Relief, Rehabilitation,Reconstruction,

Reconciliation,Reawakening.

Paradigm shift from state-dominated model to acommunity-based model fordisaster prevention, riskreduction, mitigation, andresponse.

ICT plays a key role in thenew paradigm.

MuhammadSaidur

Rahman,DirectorBDPC

Hyogo Framework involves 168countries and a 10 year

commitment

Case studies in the Pacific islandsshow that training maybe notrequired where knowledge alreadyexists (i.e. Organized)

risk = hazards *(vulnerability/capacity); therefore,reduction in poverty is proportionalto reducing the risk; i.e. You areincreasing capacity and reducing

vulnerabilityThe Bangladesh Community FloodInformation Systemhas proved to beeffective.

Use cultural actions such asstreet dramas to educate

risk management.


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Mothilal DeSilva, GeneralManager

CorporatePlanning,QualitySystems,Development,and MISDialog

Disaster Early Warning Networkwas a clear strategy in the efforts todeliver a mechanism for national

early warning, an instant warning, isreliable and authentic, works at thetime of need

Dialog Telekom's next step is to beready with CB for early warnings

GSM can be a lifeline for earlywarnings

Establish and maintainconsistent communicationand coordination with all

stakeholders.

6. Mitigation Luna AbhuSwaireh,ProgramOfficer,platform forthePromotion ofearlyWarning ,UNISDR

Platform for the Partnership ofearly warning

ICT policies should includetechnical and non-technicalpeople.

NuwanWaidyanath,

ProjectManager,Last-MileHazardWarningSystem,LIRNEasia

Sarvodaya hazard Information Hubis a Common Alerting Protocol

Message RelayIt is a two tier communicationarchitecture, which involved bothHIH first responders and Villagefirst-responders

Reliability of the ICT is measuredby how well the CAP message wasreceived by the Village FirstResponders and the effectivenessof the ICT will be measured as tohow well the Village reacted to the

message

All ICTs should use theCAP 1.1 standard to avoid

any calamities of dataexchange by using earlierversions of CAP.

The last-mile mustincorporate languagelocalization in their earlywarning messages.

Mark Wood,SecretaryGeneral,CEASA

London Bombing congested thecommunications

Activating Cell Broadcasting is notextremely difficult it is already builtin to CDMA and GSM networks

CB is not vulnerable to SPAM asmuch as SMS is

Enable over the airactivation services.

Develop a universal Agency3 digit Channel Code.


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7. Relief Chamindra

De Silva,Director,SahanaProject, LSF

Sahana Disaster Management

Information System records andreports who is doing what whenand where.

Live CD and USB solution ofSahana provides simplicity ininstantly using the software

Disaster Management

Information Systems mustbe transparent andtrustworthy.

DilipMachchar, ITand TelecomDelegate,IFRC

Community based Floods earlywarning system in Bangladesh hasproved to be effective in the caseof tsunami warning; only 2Bangladeshis died in 2004 tsunami

Before the early warning systemBangladesh lost 2 times the size ofa population as Maldives each yearand has reduced it to about 9people after installing the earlywarning system

Drills and continuityprograms must be enforcedfor sustainability of theprograms.

After setting up an earlywarning system for onehazard it is easy to extend toan all-hazards approach.

Dag Nielson,DirectorEricsonResponse

Ericson Corporate SocialResponsibility it to providehumanitarian assistance incommunication Infrastructure

through the UNHumanitarian efforts requiresubstantial planning, most of thetime local resources are notavailable because they are victimsof the disaster; therefore externalresources must be taken, whichmeans scaling down regularcommercial operations

Support the Tempereconvention.


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6. Session Panel Discussion Notes

Tabl e 4: Po int s add r es sed by panel r e la ti v e t o t he CTO expec ted dis cus sion t opics

Ses s i on

No. Expec te d d i s cu s s ion Pane l Dis cu sse d 1 The five priority actions outlined in the

Hyogo framework for actionSri Lanka was an early partner in the initiativeand the first country to bring forward a plan toUNISDR

Disaster reduction is an essential element thatneeds attention in development

Need a local level plan opposed to a Nationallevel plan such as the Hyogo framework

2000 people died after setting up a disasterreduction plan

Can you show outputs of Disaster reduction

With recent experience in mind howcan we harness the potential in ICT?

The experience in the very hotel the Forum tookplace Heritance Ahungalla, formally known as Triton Ahungalla, was a victim of the 2004tsunami. However, everyone survived because ofearly detection of the Indian ocean earthquakethrough previous now how, Dr. Chris Chapman,a seismologist, saved lives, no ICT involved here,similarly the Tilly Smith case

2 Best Practices in Disaster Management The communities must be given a chance tovoice their opinion in the national disastermanagement policies and acts.

ICTs alone don't save lives the end users mustnow how to react to early warnings; i.e.awareness is vital

ICT legislations: what steps must wetake to make sure it has a disastermanagement focus?

Telecommunications Regulators must takenecessary action to provide incentives to theoperators through tariffs.

3 Best practices in regulating for thecontinued operation of ICTs whendisaster strikes

Common Alerting Protocol was designed toaccommodate pre and post disastercommunications; moreover emergency dataexchange standards such as EdXL are alsoevolving

The Tampere Convention; can it workin practice?

The Mexicans outright disagreed to allowingthird party operators and equipment vendors toimport into the country; it is a workable solution


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Ses s i on No. Expec te d d i s cu s s ion Pane l Dis cu sse d

4 What more can operators do to restrictthe damage done by natural disasters?

Use the lessons learned to prepare betterbusiness continuity and disaster recovery plans

The importance of accurate reportingand the use of the media in disastermitigation

Not addressed

What can we do to ensure that ICToperators understand their role indisaster management?

5 Examples of best practices in engagingthe community for disasterpreparedness

Bangladesh community disaster preparednessprogram has proved where the death due todisasters have been reduced to less that 9 per year

Information sharing and knowledgemanagement, with so many potentialparties involved how can this beorganized?

Government needs to take an initiative to respectthe efforts of the local parties and implement thesolutions without delay. The Dialog/MicroImageexample shows how frustration settles in whenthe government does not move the projectsforward

What can be done to increaseinteroperability now and in the future

Make the communications Common AlertingProtocol compliant. Dialog has already began

experimenting with CAP version 1.1

6 The progress of the International EarlyWarning Program (IEWP)

The framework has been built but requires thecountries to take an initiative and move forward

The CEASA is promoting that all emergencyagencies adopt one of the 3 digit cellularbroadcasting channel numbers

The importance of balancing data

gathering with good knowledgemanagement

7

What key steps can be taken in theshort term to remove the impedimentsto using ICTs in relief efforts?

Encourage public and private sector partnerships


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Ses s i on No. Expec te d d i s cu s s ion Pane l Dis cu sse d

Best practices of ICTs Using Free and Open Source Software principalsto develop applications that are an effort of aglobal partnership opposed to a proprietary

approach which only benefits a selected domain

7. Demos

7.1.Inmarsat IP voice and Data solutions Their solutions are IP based solutionsthat use the L-Band frequency. There are 9 geostationary satellites that Inmarsat own andoperate. The solution provides high speed up to 490Kbps, Wi-Fi phones with IP Telephonyand SMS. The units carry a SIM card which identifies you as a unique user, hence theTelephony packets are routed to the particular SIM card. The voice quality is not the best but

is adequate for the most unreachable places on earth. A call is approximately US$ 6 perminute and data is approximately US$ 2 per Megabyte.

Proposed Alerting Method: Internet Public Alerting System (Pseudo Broadcast Messaging)

7.2.WorldSpace Disaster Warning, Recovery and Response (DWRR)Voice and Data Solutions The one-way Satellite Digital Radio voice/data is channeled overL Band frequencies. Moreover, the digital radio is attached to a GPS unit which extends thecapability of geospatial addressability. Therefore, it is possible to connect the addressablesatellite radio through a USB to the computer to download data (120kbps). The DWRR is ainfrastructure free solution for early warnings in last-mile communities.

Proposed Alerting Method: MP3 voice and TCP/IP data (Broadcast Messaging)

7.3.University of Moratuwa Dialog Early Warning Network System'sRemote Alarm Device (RAD) - is a Sri Lankan GSM product; especially designed anddeveloped for the Government of Sri Lanka. The unit is owned and operated by the Sri Lanka118 center (Ministry of Law and Order). The RAD is equipped with a AM/FM radio SMSdisplay, siren, call back feature.

Proposed Alerting Method: GSM voice and data (Sequential Messaging)

7.4.Dialog/MicroImage Sinhala/Tamil/English SMS with alerting javaapplet- only flow is that solution works only on phones with an operating system such asWindows / Simbien /Linux/etc. However, the market is catching on and the SMART phoneswill saturate the market in less than a decade to come.

Proposed Alerting Method: GSM data (Sequential Messaging)

Note Mobility is a common feature in all the demo solutions


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8. Networking Events

A great opportunity provided by the hosts to have round table conversations during breakfast,lunch, and diner. There were no cliques. Everyone made sure that they had an opportunity tonetwork with everyone participating in the forum. The entertainment bent everyone away from the

working mode and was necessary for the brain to rest and not be saturated.

9. Rapporteur Final Remarks

The outcome of the event was positive. The forum was more of sense of assurance to all thestakeholders in the region that they are on the right track of contributing their efforts in riskreduction.

All participants had lessons to learn and lessons to share. The intuition needs to be put in to actionswith the aim of institutionalizing the processes.

Private and Public partnerships (i.e. All stakeholders) should work towards completing theregulatory framework and implement the policies in less than 5 years.

The Civil Societies and operators should complete the pilot projects to determine feasible andsustainable ICTs for early warnings in the last mile.

Risk reduction and disaster resilience was more the topic opposed to disaster management, whichseems to sound more like relief operations and reconstruction and using ICT for operations insteadof including mitigation and preparedness.

cto%20report%20uning%20ict%20for%20dm%20june%202006

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