Observations on uses of telecommunication in emergency management Harriet Lonka, Gaia Group Ltd Emergency Telecommunications Workshop February 2002 ETSI, Sophia Antipolis, France

What is technology needed for? Technology is needed to facilitate and enable timely communication Technology has no value in itself but only in its ability to serve the organizations’ communicational needs The success of technology depends on, how well the designer understands the functions and needs of organisations and individual users

Problems with new technology Design of new emergency telecommunication systems has been too much technology driven The danger is that the expensive and technically sophisticated systems end up to be under-used and do not benefit the users as much as they potentially could

Finnish case example - public authority network VIRVE A TETRA standard based public authority network In operational test use from autumn 2001 in South Eastern Finland Is targeted to be at use in the whole country till 2005

Specific features of VIRVE Covers all relevant authorities: rescue services, police, social and healthcare, border guard, customs, environment etc. Authorized users and user groups; safety and security; speed and high capacity Is designed to apply well for the new Emergency Response Centers’ work

Lessons to be learned from the Finnish experience How to take multi-stakeholder environment properly into account Careful analysis of information available and information needed by different actors is crucial in design Design of a communication system is broader issue than just feeding information to a situation leader

Need for standardization twofold Internationally to smooth the cross-boarder co-operation in emergency management Nationally to enable better co-operation and synergy between different authorities in crisis situations

Conclusions In future emergency telecommunications design the needs of multi-stakeholder operations must be taken more carefully into account User’s perspective: Design of communication systems must be based on understanding of organisations and their working habits and needs