Emergency Communication Preparedness in Africa Exploiting Communication Satellites
- Paper ID
20591
- author
- company
University of Sussex
- country
United Kingdom
- year
2014
- abstract
Despite all the advances in science and technology, humankind remains vulnerable to the effect of natural and man-made disasters. Disasters such as floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches, landslides, hurricanes, tropical storms, typhoons, wild-fires etc leave behind devastating de- struction encompassing: human injury and loss of life, environmental damage, health hazards, economic disruption and many other challenges. This paper seeks to examine the importance of communications-disaster preparedness of nations, regions and especially the continent of Africa through the provision of strategic three-play services (Voice, Video & Data) using communication satellite systems as the first line of action to facilitate reliable and timely disaster response. Considering the criticality of telecommunications at all phases of disaster management, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) currently has a focus-group working on: disaster relief, network resilience and recovery. The focus-group is co-ordinating the ITU Telecommunication (ITU-T) Standardization sector work in the disaster relief field. Response to disasters by national emergency agencies of underdeveloped and developing nations with inadequate or little terrestrial communication infrastructure should not be limited to food, water and shelter only but also address economic sustainability. 21st century communications technology can deliver immediate effects in facilitating relief coordination in the affected areas.The rapid response emergency networks not only coordinate disas- ter relief for individuals to find their loved ones, but also disaster relief guidance and routes to access: aid, evacuation centers and shelters, e-health services and makeshift medicare and medication centers. Emergency response networks can broadcast information from the government of the affected nation and assist in facilitating and coordinating help from aid donors etc. Such an emergency network can also play a pivotal role by providing a secured and integrated communications public safety network for security agencies (i.e Police, Military, Airforce and paramilitary units); specialized emergency service units and organizations such as: Fire Fighters, Road safety teams, Mobile medical units and thus efficiently de- liver information symmetry to multiple agencies to ensure coordinated first-response (CFR) effectiveness. The NigComSat-1R communications satellite is a strategic continental ICT infrastructure provider in Sub-Saharan Africa, that is enhancing telecommunications, broadcasting, emergency networks and other value-added telecommunications services such as real-time monitoring services and navigation in Africa. Key Words- Communication Satellites; Disaster -Preparedness; Emergency Networks; NIGCOMSAT- 1R.