How to Improve Communication for Mobile Devices in Disaster Response
Communication is vital during a disaster, not just for emergency workers dealing with the crisis, but in order to provide the public with necessary information about danger zones, relief services and finding shelter. As a University of Madrid report found, mobile communication is often at its worst during this period: Heavy call traffic can overwhelm phone systems and the Internet, and high-bandwidth users such as video services may slow down the traffic. Improving communication is not just a technological challenge: The use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter or instant messaging can provide the public with information more effectively.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Use systems that can communicate on a common range of frequencies. It's routine in a disaster for the responders from different regions and government branches to use different mobile radio or phone systems, according to Louisville's Hazard Center. Using systems that can be reset to inter-agency frequencies will make it easier for different departments to coordinate their relief efforts.
-
2
Provide people in the field with access to a wide range of technology, the Hazard Center says--not just radios or phones, but mapping software, laptops and teleconferencing capability. A mobile post that can use this technology in the field wherever the need is greatest will do more good than if most of the tech is concentrated in an emergency-operations center at a fixed location.
-
-
3
Equip key responders with satellite phones or voice-over-IP phones. The Hazard Center says this will improve field communications. Satellite phones are especially useful in areas underserved by terrestrial networks.
-
4
Spread information to the public by social networking, not just via traditional media. The ihealthbeat.org website says the Red Cross has been doing this for several years, at first using it to gather information about what the public was saying, then to provide information. After the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the Thomson Reuters Foundation set up a free instant-message system that enabled rescue workers to spread information and allowed one man pinned under rubble to give workers his location.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Ihealthbeat.org says advance planning is essential: Communications networks and plans can't be put in place smoothly when a disaster is under way.
The website also says that planning should include redundancy. Having backup plans and equipment when primary systems fail is critical.
The Hazard Center says that in the worst disasters, even the best communication systems can go down. When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, almost every system, including satellite phones, became inoperable.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit hurricane katrina image by jcpjr from Fotolia.com
