Dealing with thousands of Rana Plaza:Post-quake communication in Bangladesh

Abu Saeed Khan (askhan@ieee.org)Senior Policy Fellow

LIRNEasia

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

Fire Fighters, Police, volunteers and Army rushed and rescued the victims

He is as lucky as we have been for years

We are living in a hell in waiting

It means 78,323 Rana Plaza!

Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) predicted in 2010

• Some 78,323 buildings will be destroyed completely if a 6-magnitude earthquake shakes Dhaka.

– US $ 650 million economic loss.

• If a 7.5-magnitude earthquake strikes, some 72,316 buildings in the city will be damaged totally while 53,166 partially.

– US $ 1,112 million economic loss.

• If an 8.5-magnitude of tremor from the plate boundary of Fault-2 hits the region, some 238,164 buildings will be destroyed completely across the country.

– US $ 1,075 million economic loss.

More scary numbers from CDMP

• Some 30 million tonnes of debris, equal to 2,880,000 truckloads (25 tonnes for per truck), will be generated if a 6-magnitude earthquake jolts the city from beneath of it.

• A 7.5-magnitude earthquake from the Madhupur Fault will generate a total of 30 million tonnes of debris, killing some 131,029 people instantly and injuring 32,948 others.

• According to the study, at least 10 major hospitals, 90 schools in the capital will be destroyed completely and another 241 hospitals and clinics, 30 police stations and four fire stations partially in case of a 7.5 magnitude quake.

Dr. ASM Maksud Kamal, an earthquake and tsunami expert of the CDMP

• "As a number of moderate to heavy earthquakes are overdue for some parts of the country, including the capital, it is important to get ready for the possible disasters by raising safety awareness of people."

• "Gas leakage management, power supply control,

firefighting, alternative power generation, wireless communication system, heavy equipments for removing debris and emergency clinical facilities are the top priority areas for attention.”

People calls a lot while in distress

Woman cries as she talks on a telephone following the eight-storey Rana Plaza building collapse at Savar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Picture: EPA

Impact on mobile networks• RAN installations along with PDH and SDH backhauls are

collapsed.

• Nationwide and metro OFC transmission networks are partially or fully damaged.

• Distribution and transmission grids of power are badly damaged.

• Storage and supply system of gasoline is compromised.

• Maintenance and operational staffs are victims too!

Challenges for vendors• Fast assessment of damages– Customers will help

• Mobilizing equipment and crew– Quite challenging, especially keeping the power on

• Restoring the network using makeshift facilities – RAN at elevated positions. Using VSAT for backhaul.

• Planning and implementation of full restoration– It will be similar to ‘Green Field’ in many cases.

Requires SOP and extensive practice with customers and regulators (BTRC & NBR)

Invaluable lessons from China

April 20, 2013. YA'AN, China. The 6.6-magnitude quake hit a remote mountainous area of southwestern Sichuan province at 8:02 a.m.

"The first 72 hours is the golden period for rescue. We cannot delay by a minute.,” Premier Li Keqiang.

Telecommunication became vital to the coordination of relief operations.

Resulted from a comprehensive plan• Within six hours of the

quake, Internet and phone connections were partially restored in Baoxing county.

• By late afternoon China’s big three carriers said phone calls, text messaging and roaming services would be free in quake-stricken areas.

• They advised people to use text messaging instead of making calls, as it requires less bandwidth.

Zhang Bin, a Chinese People's Liberation Army soldier, carries a 60-year-old survivor as he runs down a stretch of the road to Lingguan township which was recently cleared of debris from landslides caused by Saturday's earthquake, in Baoxing county in Ya'an, Sichuan province April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Weibo: An 'Encouraging step forward'• With more than 500 million users, Weibo - the Internet equivalent of

Twitter. Information about how people could themselves rescue friends and neighbors hit by the quake was also quickly spread through forums like Weibo.

• There were other ideas about what should be done; tolls for highways to the affected areas should be suspended and clinics should treat the injured for free and public buildings should, where necessary, be opened up for the needy.

• Where these appeals were not heeded, those involved were immediately pilloried via Weibo.

• Users are by and large agreed that the influence of social networks has grown significantly since the 2008 quake. As one Weibo user wrote: "Is this not an encouraging step forward?"

Children salute passing vehicles carrying rescuers and volunteers as they hold cardboards with messages of gratitude, after Saturday's earthquake, in Lushan county, Sichuan province April 23, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer