Role of Communication Facilities in Disaster

Management

By:

S.Shashank

X-A

Roll Number -29

Table of Contents

Introduction

It is a well known fact that natural disasters strikes countries, both developed and developing,

causing huge destruction and creating human sufferings and producing negative impacts on

national economies. Due to various geo-climatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the

globe, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones,

landslides, volcanoes, etc. strikes according to the vulnerability of the area.

India is considered as the world's most disaster prone country. It has witnessed devastating

natural disasters in recent past like droughts, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides…

Abstract

Now in the age of technology it has become easier to manage natural disasters. We can

manage them by using the various features of information technology and communication

facilities. IT is useful to prevent as well as recover them. It may be observed that advancement

in IT and communication facilities in the form of Internet, GIS [Geographic Information System],

Remote Sensing, Satellite communication, etc. can help a great deal in planning and

implementation of hazards reduction measures. GIS can improve the quality and power of

analysis of natural hazards assessments, guide development activities and assist planners in the

selection of lessening measures and in the implementation of emergency preparedness and

response action. Remote Sensing, on the other hand, as a tool can very effectively contribute

towards identification of hazardous areas, monitor the planet for its changes on a real time

basis and give early warning to many impending disasters. Communication satellites have

become vital for providing emergency communication and timely relief measures. Integration

of space technology inputs into natural disaster monitoring and mitigation mechanisms is

critical for hazard reduction. It is absolutely necessary to create awareness amongst the public

as well as decision makers for allocating resources for appropriate investments in information

technology. In this project an attempt has been made to highlight the role of communication

facilities in management of natural disasters in India.

Natural Disasters in India

India is a large country and prone to a number of natural hazards. Among all the natural

disasters that country faces, river floods are the most frequent and often devastating. The

shortfall in the rainfall causes droughts or drought like stimuli in various parts of the country.

The country has faced some severe earthquakes causing widespread damage to the life and

property. India has a coastline of about 8000 km which is prone to very severe cyclonic

formations in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Another major problem faced by the country

is in the form of landslides and avalanches. With an increase in the perception towards

spreading a culture of prevention in the disaster management scenario, considerable emphasis

is now being placed on research and development activities in the area of information

technology for disaster preparedness and prevention. This has brought in a significant positive

change even though the multitude and frequency of disasters in the country has increased.

Super Cyclone in Orissa during 28-30 October 1999

Case Study

In Monsoon-2004, severe flood situations in the States of Assam and Bihar caused major

devastation. Many district head quarters got totally cut-off from the State head quarter and

neighboring districts due to submerged telephone exchanges or damaged cables and disrupted

roads and railways communication. In the worst affected districts the need for relief and rescue

operation could not be communicated to the State head quarters. Realizing this, State

Government requested National Disaster Management Division of the Government of India to

immediately send the emergency coordination kits containing satellite phones to establish

communication links among the severely affected districts and state headquarters.

From the above case study, it can be seen that during any major disaster or emergency

situation, the communication links are totally disrupted. Therefore, it is crucially important to

have completely functional communication links among Government authorities at various

levels to provide adequate assistance to the affected population. This project tries to explain

various basic telecommunication facilities, need for alternative communication systems during

the large-scale natural disaster/emergency situations, and modes of emergency communication

systems including satellite based communication systems.

Application of Communication Facilities in Disaster Management

Though it is not possible to completely avoid the natural disasters, but the sufferings can be

minimized by creating proper awareness of the likely disasters and its impact by developing a

suitable warning system, disaster preparedness and management of disasters through

application of information technology tools. The changing trends have opened up a large

number of scientific and technological resources and skills to reduce disaster risk.

There are mainly applications we can use to manage disasters:

1) GIS and Remote Sensing

2) Internet

3) Amateur Radio

4) Satellite Based Communication System

GIS AND REMOTE SENSING

GIS provides a tool for effective and efficient storage and manipulation of remotely sensed data

and other spatial and non-spatial data types for both scientific management and policy oriented

information. This can be used to facilitate measurement, mapping, monitoring and modeling of

variety of data types related to natural phenomenon. The specific GIS application in the field of

Risk Assessment are:- Hazard Mapping to show earthquake, landslides, floods or fire hazards.

Theses map could be created for cities, districts or even for the entire country and tropical

cyclone Threat Maps are used by meteorological departments to improve the quality of the

tropical storm warning services and quickly communicate the risk to the people likely to get

affected by the cyclone.

Remote sensing makes observation of any object from a distance and without coming into actual contact. Remote sensing can gather data much faster than ground based observation, can cover large area at one time to give a synoptic view. Remote sensing comprises Aerial Remote Sensing which is the process of recording information, such as photographs and images from sensor on aircrafts and Satellite Remote Sensing which consists of several satellite remote sensing system which can be used to integrate natural hazard assessments into development planning studies. These are: Land sat, SPOT Satellite, Satellite Radar System, Advanced Very High Resolution Radio. Some applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in various disasters are as follows:-

DROUGHT:

GIS and Remote Sensing can be used in drought relief management such as early warnings of

drought conditions will help to plan out the strategies to organize relief work. Satellite data may

be used to target potential ground water sites for taking up well-digging programmers. Satellite

data provides valuable tools for evaluating areas subject to desertification. Film transparencies,

photographs and digital data can be used for the purpose of locating, assessing and monitoring

deterioration of natural conditions in a given area.

EARTHQUAKE:

GIS and Remote Sensing can be used for preparing seismic hazards maps in order to assess the

exact nature of risks.

FLOODS:

Satellite data can be effectively used for mapping and monitoring the flood inundated areas,

flood damage assessment, flood hazard zoning and post-flood survey of rivers configuration

and protection works.

LANDSLIDES:

Landslide zonation map comprise a map demarcating the stretches or area of varying degree of

anticipated slope stability or instability. The map has an inbuilt element of forecasting and is

hence of probabilistic nature. Depending upon the methodology adopted and the

comprehensiveness of the input data used, a landslide hazard zonation map able to provide

help concerning location,-extent of the slop area likely to be affected, and rate of mass

movement of the slope mass.

SEARCH AND RESCUE:

GIS can be used in carrying out search and rescue operations in a more effective manner by

identifying areas that are disasters prone and zoning them accordingly to risk magnitudes.

INTERNET

In the present era of electronic communication, the internet provides a useful platform for

disaster mitigation communications. Launching of a well defined web site is a very cost-

effective means of making an intra-national and international presence felt. It provides a new

and potentially revolutionary option for the rapid, automatic, and global dissemination of

disaster information. A number of individuals and groups, including several national

meteorological services, are experimenting with the Internet for real-time dissemination of

weather observation, forecasts, satellite and other data. In the most critical phase of natural

disasters electronic communication have provided the most effective and in some instances

perhaps the only means of communication with the outside world.

WARNING AND FORECASTING SYSTEM:

An advance system of forecasting, monitoring and issuing early warnings plays the most

significant role in determining whether a natural hazard will assume disastrous proportions or

not. Our country has the following forecasting systems:

INDIAN METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT (IMD):

IMD provides cyclone warnings from the Area Cyclone Warning Centers (ACWCs) It has

developed the necessary infrastructure to originate and disseminate the cyclone warnings at

appropriate levels. It has made operational a satellite based communication system called

Cyclone Warning Dissemination System for direct dissemination of cyclone warnings to the

cyclone prone coastal areas. IMD runs operationally a Limited-area Analysis and Forecast

System (LAFS), based on an Optimal Interpretation (OI) analysis and a limited area Primitive

Equation (PE) model, to provide numerical guidance.

NATIONAL REMOTE SENSING AGENCY (NRSA):

Long term drought proofing programmes on the natural resources of the district have been

greatly helped by the use of satellite data obtained by NRSA. Satellite data can be used very

effectively for mapping and monitoring the flood inundated areas, flood damage assessment,

flood hazard zoning and past flood survey of river configuration and protection works.

SEISMOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS:

Seismological observations in the country are made through national network of 36 seismic

stations operated by the IMD, which is the nodal agency. These stations have collected data

over long periods of time.

WARNING SYSTEM FOR DROUGHT:

The National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Management System (NADAMS) has been

developed by the Department of Space for the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, and

is primarily based on monitoring of vegetation status through National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution (AVHR) data.

FLOOD FORECASTING:

Flood forecasts and warnings are issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC) , Ministry of

Water Resources. These are used for alerting the public and for taking appropriate measures by

concerned administrative and state engineering agencies in the flood hazard mitigation.

Information is gathered from the CWC's vast network of Forecasting Stations on various rivers

in the country.

CYCLONE TRACKING:

Information on cyclone warnings is furnished on a real-time basis to the control room set up in

the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. High-power Cyclone Detection Radars (CDRs)

that are installed along the coastal belt of India have proved to be a very useful tool to the

cyclone warning work. These radars can locate and track approaching Tropical Cyclones within a

range of 400 km. Satellite imagery received from weather satellite is extensively used in

detecting the development and movement of Tropical Cyclones over oceanic regions,

particularly when they are beyond the range of the coastal radars.

Amateur Radio

In the event of major disasters/emergencies, it has been experienced that Amateur Radios have

worked successfully when no other communications worked.

Amateur radio, also known as ‘Ham radio’, does not refer to special kind of radio but to a

special set of rules which apply to certain frequencies as defined by the International

Telecommunications Union (ITU) and regulated in India by Wireless Planning and Coordination

Wing, Ministry of Communications. The laid down rules allow these frequencies to be used only

for research, education and personal purpose. The word Amateur implies the use of radio

communications for non-commercial purposes. Amateur Radio operation does not use the

ground based infrastructure, and has limited power requirements which can be easily met by

batteries and generators and thus work successfully in emergencies.

Amateur radio is getting popular in India as a creative hobby and there are around 15,000

licensed Amateur Radio Operators (Hams) in India. Most Governments expect their Amateurs

to provide emergency communication support in case of an emergency and Amateurs always

come forward to provide their services voluntarily for establishing crucial communications

among the emergency response managers. Such Amateur volunteers provided commendable

services during the Orissa super cyclone in 1999 and Gujarat earthquake in 2001.

In efforts to popularize the Amateur Radio in the country and develop a trained force of licensed Amateurs, Department of Information Technology has initiated a nation wide programme to establish Amateur Radio Stations at various places and provide the necessary training for interested Amateur Station Operators.

Satellite Based Communications Systems

Satellite based Communication systems mean communication systems intended for users on the Earth but which have some equipment in space, i.e. a satellite. Different satellites carry out different jobs, such as taking weather pictures or finding accurate positions on earth in terms of latitudes and longitudes. Communications satellites are essentially radio relay stations in space and are sometimes referred to as COMSATs. The other words you may hear are SATCOMS for satellite communications in general and SATPHONE for a satellite phone terminal. The most important feature of a communications satellite is the transponder - a radio that receives a conversation at one frequency and then amplifies it and re-transmits it back to Earth on another frequency.

A satellite normally contains hundreds or thousands of transponders. Data, television, image and some telephone transmissions are routinely received and re-broadcasted by these transponders of communication satellites. Present operational Indian space systems include Indian National Satellite (INSAT) for tele-communication, television broadcasting, meteorology and disaster warning and Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) for resources monitoring and management.

Need for Alternative Communications System

In most of the natural disasters the telecommunication network gets disrupted which increases the risk of disaster. Q.) Why does telecommunication network get disrupted or jammed in event of a major natural disaster or emergency situation? A.) Unfortunately at the time of major natural disasters such as earthquake, cyclone, flood and landslide, the regular telecommunication infrastructure of public wired and wireless (mobile) telephones get severely damaged and become nonfunctional. This mainly happens because of the damaged cables and cellular transmission towers or disrupted power supply to operate the

telephone exchanges and cellular transmission towers. The wireless radio communication network of Police and Civil authorities also gets affected due to damaged transmission towers. During this emergency situation, the communication traffic goes beyond its capacity which leads to congestion of the network or in worst case, complete failure of network. Q.)Do we really need to have alternative communication systems, in case the normal communication lines fail? A.) Yes, we do. At the time of any major disaster or emergency situation, it is extremely necessary to have the communication links operational among Government authorities at various levels and the people/ volunteers working in the disaster affected areas to help the affected population. It becomes imperative to ensure that the critical needs of search and rescue operations, relief and response measures are communicated among the authorities of State Government, local administration, voluntary organizations and the affected population. This situation calls for reliable alternate communication links, which ensures the rapid movement of the right resources to the right place at the right time. It may also happen that some severely affected areas get completely disconnected from other parts of the world. In such situations, the urgent needs of the disaster-affected population are not known or communicated to the responsible Government authorities, voluntary organizations and unaffected populations in the vicinity. This may lead to severe losses in terms of human lives, livestock and property.

Conclusion It may be observed that advancement in IT and Communication’s Teachnology in the form of Internet, GIS, Remote Sensing, Satellite communication, etc. can help a great deal in planning and implementation of hazards reduction. For maximum benefit, new technologies for public communication should be made use and natural disaster mitigation messages should be conveyed through these measures. GIS can improve the quality and power of analysis of natural hazards assessments, guide development activities and assist planners in the selection of mitigation measures and in the implementation of emergency preparedness and response action. Remote Sensing, on the other hand, as a tool can very effectively contribute towards identification of hazardous areas, monitor the planet for its changes on a real time basis and give early warning to many impending disasters. Communication satellites have become vital

for providing emergency communication and timely relief measures. Integration of space technology inputs into natural disaster monitoring and mitigation mechanisms is critical for hazard reduction. It is absolutely necessary to create awareness amongst the public as well as decision makers for allocating resources for appropriate investments in information technology. Awareness and training in Information technology in a much greater measure is required to develop human resources, particularly in the developing countries, who are chronically suffer from natural disasters. The disaster preparedness and awareness is the only effective way of mitigating the impact of future disasters.

Acknowledgements

1. My parents for their unstinted support. 2. Debjanee Mam for her guidance throughout the project.

Bibliography and References

1. Mandal, G. S. (1999), Forecasting and Warning Systems for Cyclones in India, Shelter, October, 1999, pp. 24-26.

2. Sinha, Anil (1999), Relief Administration and Capacity Building for Coping Mechanism

towards Disaster Reduction, Shelter, October, 1999, pp. 9-12.

3. Together Towards a Safer India Part 3