Telecommunications: disaster vulnerability and resilience

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Introduction

The global economy is increasingly digital. The internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the way individuals, businesses and governments operate. Their resilience to disasters, and their ability to recover in the aftermath, is thus critical to resilience.

Themes
Critical infrastructure

Knowledge base

Update

Tuning into ‘amateur’ radio airwaves in Mozambique

Ham radio strengthens emergency telecommunications preparedness in disaster-stricken Mozambique.
World Food Programme
Tsunami-warning-system
Update

Strengthening emergency communications for complex, cascading and compounding events – lessons learned from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami in Tonga

The January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami in Tonga was a ‘textbook’ example of complex, cascading and compounding risks. In this long-read blog, Bapon Fakhruddin and Emma Singh discuss the lessons learned for disaster risk response.
International Science Council (ISC)
Submarine telecommunication cable
Update

The Tonga volcanic eruption has revealed the vulnerabilities in our global telecommunication system

In the wake of a volcanic eruption in Tonga, much of the communication with residents on the islands remains at a standstill. In today's world, more than 95% of global data transfer occurs along fibre-optic cables that cross through the world’s oceans.
Conversation Media Group, the
The Pacific Coast Tsunami Hazard Zone warning sign warns the public of potential dangers following an earthquake.
Update

UH leads game-changing earthquake, tsunami undersea early warning system

An effort to advance a global network of SMART seafloor cables and develop early warning systems for tsunamis and earthquakes around Vanuatu and New Caledonia is being led by the University of Hawaiʻiat Mānoa.
University of Hawai'i
A Pathway to Infrastructure Resilience -Advisory Paper 1: Opportunities for systemic change
Documents and publications

A pathway to infrastructure resilience - Advisory paper 1: Opportunities for systemic change

The aim of this collaborative research project is to build expertise, momentum for change and set a strategic direction for how to plan infrastructure to respond to natural and non-natural threats
A Pathway to Infrastructure Resilience - Advisory Paper 2- Guidance for asset owners and operators in the short term
Documents and publications

A Pathway to Infrastructure Resilience - Advisory Paper 2: Guidance for asset owners and operators in the short term

The research found that in an infrastructure context, achieving resilience requires a shift in focus from the resilience of the asset itself, to the contribution of assets to the resilience of the overall  societal system.
Cover of the publication
Documents and publications

Emergency telecommunications table-top simulation guide

This guide will help stakeholders working on disaster management and disaster risk at national level to plan, design and conduct table-top simulations that test and refine emergency telecommunication plans and policies.
Cover page for publication with title
Documents and publications

Building a resilient telecommunications sector in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria

This article will summarize 33 courses of action for rebuilding the telecommunications sector proposed by the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center and adopted by the government of Puerto Rico.
DRR and Caribbean Private Sector
Documents and publications

Disaster Risk Reduction and the Caribbean Private Sector: The role of the telecommunications sector in the context of COVID-19

The aim of this exploratory paper is to provide some critical perspectives and insights on the role of the private sector in disaster risk reduction, in particular with regards to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery process.
Documents and publications

Women, ICT and emergency telecommunications - opportunities and constraints

This report indicates that the digital gender divide is blocking women from becoming equal stakeholders in society, putting entire communities at greater risk during emergencies.

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