what have we learned from the tsunami? rohan samarajiva
TRANSCRIPT
What have we learned from the tsunami?
Rohan Samarajiva
1. Failures of ICT use and of institutions occurred Assumed ubiquity and power of ICTs not
evident on December 26, 2004 1883: Krakatoa disaster carried by telegraph
agencies 2 days later 2004: Destruction of Aceh carried by satellite
and Internet-equipped news organizations 2 hours later
News of inundation of East Coast coastal towns reaches Colombo, but is not broadcast; failing to save lives on other coasts
Physical world wherehazards occur
Symbolic worldwhere action
originates
Mediatedinterpersona
l
Physical and symbolic worlds, absent
linking technologies
Physical world wherehazards occur
Symbolic worldwhere action
originates
Mass media
Mediatedinterpersonal
Warnings
Warnings
The physical, the symbolic & their linking through ICTs, simplified
More time to run; more lives saved
The importance of ICT-based warning and evacuation
Sri Lanka’s biggest natural disasters compared
Families affected
Deaths
1978 East Coast Cyclone & Tidal Surges
250,000 915
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
248,266 30,974 (40,000)
1:1 1:34
Physical world wherehazards occur
Symbolic worldwhere action
originates
Mediatedinterpersona
l
What happened on December 26th, 2004:A world without ICTs . . .
One in 500 died in Sri Lanka without one minute of official warning
2. Congestion matters, but broadcast is not panacea All point-to-point networks including
SMS were affected to varying degrees by congestionThey can play a role “ahead of the
wave,” but . . . Broadcast modes have difficulty
alerting peopleRadio and TV must be onCell broadcast does not alert
Communities; families;individuals
Multiple pathways make keeping ahead of the wave difficult
Tsunami hazard detection(International/regional)
Assessment and issuance of warning (National center)
Media First responders(incl. CBOs)
How to give alerts based on the lesson Systems that can make people ready
AHEAD of the congestion wave Hazard information hub (HIH) Community based system
Novel methods of alerting people WorldSpace Disaster Warning Response
and Recovery (DWRR) set, connected to HIH
Dialog-U of Moratuwa-MicroImage GSM based alerting device
3. Government need not do everything; Sri Lanka’s strength is community Government has hands full with
Hazard detection and monitoring systems
National disaster warning system Why not build on the community
strength to develop preparedness at the village level?Making Sarvodaya’s 226 tsunami
affected villages disaster resilient
4. Sri Lanka can lead the way with community-centered disaster-preparedness Community approach prioritizes
training and preparedness Cost-effective to provide mix of
specially designed communication devices to community leaders, rather than households
Community focus also reduces negatives of panics and trust problems
Our objectives
Generate research findings as quickly as possible (even though project runs until November 2007)
Use those findings to provide appropriate ICTs and training to All 226 tsunami-affected villages2,000 and then all 15,000 Sarvodaya
villagesAll ~30,000 villages in our countryBay of Bengal and beyond
Where we are now
7 day Train-the-trainerWorkshop completed Picture is from in-situtraining at tsunami-affected village on westCoast 28 trainers from all regions completed course
Where we are now
Locally developed
alerting device
demonstrated to villagers Village level training
underway Equipment being
Tested for HIH
For more information
www.lirneasia.net (search using “disaster”) Rohan Samarajiva
[email protected] +94 11 493 9992; +94 11 494 0290(f)
Gordon Gow [email protected]
Nuwan Waidyanatha [email protected]