1. Disaster Management: Role of ICTs
Chanuka Wattegama
LIRNEasia
(former) United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
(former) ICT Agency, Sri Lanka
World Bank Organised Seminar on
Disaster Risk Management in the Information Age
Washington DC ,Oct. 8-9, 2008
Note: The opinions expressed in the presentation are author’s own and may not reflect those of any organization he is/was affiliated to.

2. Date: December 26, 2004 09:00 hrs 08:55 hrs
Large earthquake strikes off the tip of Sumatra, Indonesia
07:00 hrs
Pallekele Seismological Station
relays data of seaquake from
seismometer to GSMB in Colombo
07:06 hrs
PTWC revises magnitude to 8.5,
mentions potential for tsunami
08:04 hrs
Sources: NYT, Sunday Times, Tamilnet,
08:27 hrs
08:40 hrs
08:52 hrs
08:55 hrs
09:00 hrs
09:15 hrs
09:20 hrs
09:30 hrs

3. The tragedy…
“The Asian tsunami’s death toll could have been drastically reduced if the warning – already known to scientists - was disseminated quickly and effectively to millions of coastal dwellers on the Indian Ocean rim. It is appalling that our sophisticated global communications systems simply failed us that fateful day.”
-Sir Arthur Clarke

4. Was this the reason?

5. Are we living in a more dangerous world than our grandparents lived?
Living with Disasters…
Are we living in a more dangerous world than our grandparents lived?

6. Or is it becoming a safer place?
Living with Disasters…
Or is it becoming a safer place?

7. The tale of two worlds…
Highest (per incident) casualties in Asia, Africa and South America…
… highest (per incident) losses in Europe, North America and Australia

8. Hazard Vs. Disaster While ICTs cannot prevent most hazards…
1. A source of danger;
2. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another*
Vs.
Disaster
1. A state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune;
2. An event resulting in great loss and misfortune*
… they can reduce the risk of disaster
* Webster online dictionary

9. ICTs in Disaster Management…
Mitigation, Risk Reduction (through assessment) and Prevention – activities to reduce the chance of a hazard happening or prevent a hazard ending up as a disaster (long term)
Preparedness – plans to save lives or property and help the response and rescue service operations. Includes Early Warning Systems and evacuation
Response - actions taken to save lives and prevent property damage and to preserve the environment during emergencies or disasters, in the immediate aftermath. (short term)
Recovery – actions that assist a community to return to the normalcy after a disaster. (short term and long term)

10. 1. ICTs in Disaster Risk Reduction (through risk assessment)
ICTs in Disaster Management…
1. ICTs in Disaster Risk Reduction
(through risk assessment)

11. Monitoring disaster possibilities using Satellite communication
2. Floods
Monitoring disaster possibilities using
Satellite communication
and GIS tools
1. Drought
3. Global warming

12. Monitoring disaster possibilities using Satellite communication
and GIS tools
4. Earthquake prone areas
Daily night time outgoing long wave earth radiation in Eastern Sichuan, China from May 5 -12, 2008

13. 2. ICTs in Disaster Mitigation and
ICTs in Disaster Management…
2. ICTs in Disaster Mitigation and
Prevention

14. Bio-Surveillance systems:
Show spreading patterns of critical diseases
Short term(SARS, Bird Flu) or long term (HIV/AIDS)
Also address the issue of bio terrorism
Stochastic modelling:
Mathematical simulations based on real data

15. Awareness creation:
Internet, , TV, Radio, Mobiles
Social networking, blogging

16. 3. ICTs in Disaster Preparedness
ICTs in Disaster Management…
3. ICTs in Disaster Preparedness

17. Disaster Management training:
Useful ICT tools: PCs and peripherals, TV, Radio

18. in disaster preparedness
Role of Internet
in disaster preparedness
Started in 1997 by Reuters Foundation
Piggyback on Reuters news service
Focus is on conflicts and disasters
Use a skeleton staff
Has an e-community
Addresses emergencies of four types,
health related
rapid onset
food-related and
conflict

19. 4. ICTs in Disaster Response
ICTs in Disaster Management…
4. ICTs in Disaster Response

20. Hazard Disaster Rapid Onset Disasters
ICTs in Disaster Preparedness and Response
Rapid Onset Disasters
½ hour – 6 hours
Hazard
Disaster
If > ½ hour disaster warning is not possible
If < 6 hours, it is a different kind of a disaster (drought, epidemic, famine) – needs diverse tools

21. Does Early Warning matter?
ICTs in Disaster Preparedness and Response
Does Early Warning matter?
MAY BE
MAY BE
YES
MAY BE
MAY BE
YES NO

22. Early Warning Systems - monitoring
eg. ADPC Tsunami and Multi-Hazard Regional Early Warning System
Recorder on sea bed measures water pressure every 15 mins - an unusual result triggers a reading every 15 secs.
Buoy measures surface conditions and sends this plus data from sea bed to satellite
Satellite receives data and relays it to ground stations
Float in a "stilling well" tube measures sea level
Data is processed and sent to satellite
Satellite transmits data to alert centres

23. Early Warning Systems
It is an end-to-end game…

24. 5. ICTs in Disaster Recovery
ICTs in Disaster Management…
5. ICTs in Disaster Recovery
(short term)

25. ICTs in Disaster Recovery (Immediate Aftermath)
Developed by LSF in the aftermath of tsunami
Used LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) software stack
The main applications and problems they address are:
Helping to reduce trauma by effectively finding missing persons.
Coordinating and balancing the distribution of relief organizations
in the affected areas and connecting relief groups
Registering and tracking all incoming requests for support and
relief up to fulfilment and helping donors connect to requirements.
Tracking the location and numbers of victims in the various camps
and temporary shelters set up all around the affected area.
Successfully used in Kashmiri earthquake (2005), Philippines
Guinsaugon landslide (2006) and Indonesian Yogjakarta
earthquake (2006)

26. ICTs in Disaster Recovery (Immediate Aftermath)
Role of
Internet:
Aftermath of
Turkey
Earthquake
A major earthquake in Izmit, Turkey on August 17, 1999
Damage: 16,000 deaths, 120,000 houses
Fixed and mobile networks almost down
Only Internet was still up
It was used to locate missing persons, joining families, diverting essential items, prioritizing activities, donor coordination etc

27. ICTs in Disaster Recovery (Immediate Aftermath)
Web 2.0 tools
- Sarvodaya
blog site
Sarvodaya was not ready for a ‘tsumani’
No resource to support the thousands displaced
The result: A blog site called
Developed overnight by two volunteers
This site connected the Sarvodaya teams at the international level
Sir Arthur C. Clarke made a public request for donations through this site
Site referred by Google, Apple and Nortel
Collected amount more than USD 1 million over few weeks time

28. Web 2.0 tools – Social Networking

29. 6. ICTs in Disaster Recovery
ICTs in Disaster Management…
6. ICTs in Disaster Recovery
(long term)

30. ICTs in Disaster Recovery (long term)
Example: DAD – Development Assistance database
An automated information management system designed to improve efficiency and coordination of donor activities in the country.
Promotes good governance and public accountability and transparency
First used in Afghanistan. Now rolled out in Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives and Sri Lanka
Has a user friendly web interface

31. Mitigation and Prevention
Conclusion: Fortunately it does not have to be one technology over another…
Risk Reduction
Mitigation and Prevention
Preparde-ness
Response
Recovery
GIS
√√√ √√ √
Analytical tools
Blogging
Internet
Mobile (voice)
Mobile (non-voice)
Open Source
Satellite Communication
Web 2.0, Social Networking
TV, Radio

32. Conclusion: Other issues (which ICT might not solve)…
Extremely limited time to respond (eg tsunami in Java)
Delays in decision making / issuing warnings; coordinating problems
Evacuation issues (eg Katrina)
Uncertainty in warnings (eg Floods in Bangladesh, 2008)
Irrational human behaviour during evacuations
Lack of shelters to evacuate (eg pre-’90 floods in Bangladesh)
Loss of livelihoods
Loss of property

33. "A chain is as strong as its weakest link”
Conclusion:
"A chain is as strong as its weakest link”

34. Thank You!