UN Stresses Key Role of Communications in Mitigating Impact of Disasters
New York, Dec 12 2006 4:00PM
Aware that communications can make the difference between life and mass death in a natural disaster, the United Nations
today opened a four-day workshop for the Asia-Pacific region to streamline that key element in the overall strategy to
mitigate the impact of natural catastrophes that it launched after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The workshop, co-organized by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Bangkok, is part of the agencies’ efforts to build capacity on
preparedness for disaster communications, particularly in those countries which are prone to natural disasters.
It will focus on improving rapid response in emergency situations, especially in least developed, developing and small
islands developing States in Asia and the Pacific.
Delegates will discuss disaster threats, strategies and initiatives for improved disaster response as well as assistance
required to improve disaster management in their countries.
The UN has put disaster risk reduction on the front burner ever since the tsunami, when experts said scores of thousands
of the more than 200,000 dead could have been saved if early warning systems had existed and allowed them to escape to
higher ground in the hours between the earthquake that triggered the giant waves and their landfall.
Since then it has played a major role in developing early warning systems, not only for the Indian Ocean but other
vulnerable areas as well, based on quake and tidal sensors, alarm networks ranging from radio to cell phones and
text-messaging, and disaster preparedness training to ensure timely evacuation of vulnerable coastal areas.
But the best sensors and alarm systems in the world are useless if the message does not reach the people literally on
the front line of the disaster. As a result, the workshop which includes not only delegates from Member States and
officials from UN agencies but also experts from international organizations, Government agencies, civil society and
telecom companies.
ENDS