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It's been just about two weeks Cyclone Sidr made landfall in the coastal
districts, killing thousands and flattening houses and trees. No doubt
the devastation will haunt our collective memory day in, day out.
A vast alluvial delta, Bangladesh is especially prone to acts of God,
against which mankind is only helpless. But we could develop a robust
disaster management system to reduce casualties, the thing we have seen
this time.
But due to a lack of proper information dissemination, hundreds of
fishermen downplayed the scale of the danger stalking them. Rescuers
have now found many of their floating bodies and many are reported still
missing.
The catastrophe has also tore apart the telecommunications services in
the affected areas, contributing to the difficulty in shipping emergency
services. On-time information could have reduced the extent of the
destruction. But weak technological strength and the lack of practical
know-how are the main obstacles to implementing this strategy in the
country.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) greatly adds to an
effective disaster management. Disaster management is the discipline
that involves preparing, warning, supporting and rebuilding the society
when natural or man-made disaster occurs.
ICT has deep impact on disaster management in all its phases. A
state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure helps the government to precisely
analyse the weather condition, develop effective warning system and
strengthen aid-distribution chain. This article spotlights several
ICT-based solutions that could help the government, NGOs and similar
organisations to enhance disaster management tactics.
*Transforming cyclone centres into internet service centres*
The government is planning to establish many cyclone centres across the
coastal districts. These shelters can as well be utilised to provide
meteorological information for the vulnerable people. In this regard,
each centre needs to be connected to cell phone towers to get
uninterrupted internet service. The authorities should come forward to
develop special websites and relevant contents that would enable people
to gather right information at the right time.
The centres will reach emergency news to the rural people through
community places such as local school, village market and mosques. As
the shelters are always connected to the internet, bucolic people can
use IP telephony service to send in their information to district
headquarters during any emergency. Cell-phone operators should charge
nominal internet-service fees to make the system viable. In normal
circumstances, these centres can be used to train people, NGO workers
and volunteers for disaster control and preparedness and for creating
social awareness.
Developing a central database of available resources
Nowadays a central database of resources is indispensable to
well-coordinated relief activities. This database stores information
regarding vital elements such as food, medicines, clothes, building
materials, etc. If a particular district bears the brunt of Mother
Nature's wrath, neighbouring districts can come forward to assess the
emergency requirements there by using this database, mobilising
available resources instantly.
District authorities will regularly send updated information on their
districts to a central server, which could be located in the capital so
that high-level government officials could closely monitor and
synchronise district-level activities. India Disaster Resource Network
(www.idrn.gov.in) is a good example of such a database.
During a disaster, when everything is in complete disarray, software
could be used for proper resource management. Sahana is an ideal
instance of this kind of software, which was developed in Sri Lanka by a
team of ICT volunteers to help tsunami victims and coordinate work among
relief organisations during and after that catastrophic disaster. Sahana
is a free, open-source software that provides solutions in four segments
-- person registry, organisation registry, campus registry and request
management system.
An online information system such as AlertNet (www.alertnet.org),
developed by Reuters Foundation, is another good example of ICT-based
warning and disaster management system. AlertNet started its operation
in 1997 and is basically a humanitarian news network that keeps informed
relief professionals and general people about the disaster around the
globe.
*Community radio *
Community radio is the radio of rural people. It paves the way for
sharing local news, local happenings, weather updates, commodity price,
etc. between rural communities. Traditional radio stations broadcast
programs that are commercially motivated for which they miss out many
contents that have significant impact on the bucolic people. Community
radio warns fishermen of bad weather and guides them to safety. It also
helps people find out the victims of any disaster and informs them of
casualties.
*GIS and remote sensing for exact analysis*
Geographic Information System (GIS) can be used for scientific analysis,
resource management and development planning. Through GIS, researchers
can successfully identify and isolate risk-prone geographical areas, as
a GIS-based 3D map provides detail information compared to a traditional
2D map. GIS also allows scientists to monitor environmental change,
human impact and other natural process in a particular zone from
earth-orbiting satellites.
GIS is also helpful to identify the damage and at the same time ensure
uniform distribution of emergency supplies at the right place. Remote
sensing is a tactic that allows researches to gather information about
any object located in a remote place. Generally aircraft, spacecraft,
satellite or ship are the prime elements of remote sensing.
*SMS and cell broadcasting *
Short Message Service (SMS) is a potential way to send any important
news. During disaster, when it is not possible to initiate voice calls
due to network congestion, people can send SMS as it operates on
separate control channel. SMS also has another advantage over voice
calls because it can be sent to many people simultaneously.
Cell phone operators nowadays can inform people about any weather
warning through the cell broadcasting. In this process, a text message
is sent to a particular cell or the entire coverage area.
ICT in disaster management can be another arrow in the government's
arsenal to fight against all the negative fallout of a disaster. It also
saves lives. It is high time both government and private stakeholders
integrated ICT in disaster management tactics.
