[wsfii-discuss] disasters and telecom

[Arun Mehta]

In disaster after disaster, we have seen how the immediate and 
catastrophic failure of telecom compounds the misery of the people. I 
believe WSFII should work on a strategy to combat this, taking advantage 
of all the experience our US friends gathered after Katrina. Possible 
actions:

1. Can we not, possibly from the Djursland institute, coordinate a task 
force that drops what it is doing and rushes with equipment to the 
disaster zone, the way organisations such as the Red Cross or MSF do?
2. Can we look at stocking or, if needed, developing hardware that might 
help in disasters? For instance, now that so many people carry mobile 
phones on their person, a simple detector might help in finding people 
buried under rubble.
3. Best would be, if among the people affected by the disaster, were 
those who already knew how to set up wireless networks. In that case, 
even people cut off from the rest of the world could get the message 
across, something that would have been invaluable in Kashmir these last 
few days. Can we not make special effort to train people in areas that 
are particularly prone to disasters, such as the Pacific rim and the 
Himalayan region? If those affected early on by the tsunami had been 
able to raise the alarm, many lives might have been saved.

Arun


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