Emergency broadcasting during disasters

Governments and emergency services agencies are working on improved ways to keep the public informed during times of crisis and natural disaster.

There are many methods that governments and emergency services agencies can use to disseminate information and warning messages to the public during natural disasters and other crises - emergency broadcasting via extant radio and television networks is one of them.

The importance of disseminating emergency information in a timely manner gained new emphasis in the wake of recent disasters such as the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami of 2003, and the similar earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011. Governments throughout the region are considering ways to improve information flow from authorities to the public, via a variety of means.

In November, officials from India’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) were given a demonstration of the Emergency Warning Feature (EWF) available on the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard. The four-day workshop showed how information and warnings can be better distributed and managed using DRM technology.

Seventy-two DRM transmitters are being installed throughout India by All India Radio, an extent that will cover around 70% of the nation’s population. The EWF function is built in to all of these transmitters; all government agencies have to do is send their emergency warnings and messages to the transmitters. But also necessary would be for manufacturers to build the EWF receive function into their digital receivers.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in a recent paper, recommended the use of DRM EWF.

China opens new centre

On 3 December, China opened a new National Emergency Broadcast Centre, which is charged not only with developing an emergency broadcast system, but also with building a nationwide radio network that will link government agencies with offices throughout the country.

In April 2013, following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Lushan in Sichuan Province, a small-scale network was set up. Instigated by China National Radio and local television and radio stations, it broadcast messages and warnings via loudspeakers, AM radio and satellite stations.

The new system is expected to be operational by the end of 2015.

Learning from disasters

On 28 November, an emergency broadcasting workshop organised by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was held in Phom Penh, Cambodia. With the theme of ‘Broadcasters can save lives’, the two-day workshop aimed to develop and exchange information on ways in which radio can save lives and reduce suffering during times of natural disasters.

Funded by AusAid and the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, the participants discussed information flow through broadcasting in the hours and days leading up to natural disasters, as well as during these events.

On the first day of the workshop, participants shared lessons learned from their experiences of typhoons Yolanda and Haiyan. The second day was devoted to developing and testing emergency broadcasting plans, specific to individual countries, as well as ways in which to make the community aware of ways to reduce risk during disasters.

ITU report to support emergency broadcasting

The ITU will release a report in April 2014, outlining the role that terrestrial television and radio broadcasting plays, and can play, during times of crisis.

“Emergency broadcasting plays a critical role in the rapid dissemination of information to the public and is a key element in helping save lives in the aftermath of natural disasters,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré. “The ITU Report on Emergency Broadcasting will provide broadcasters, first responders and the general public important information on how to prepare for natural disasters and their aftermath.”

The ITU points out that television and radio broadcasting systems can provide “reliable point-to-multipoint delivery of essential information and safety advice to the public as well as to first responders and others via widely available consumer receivers, both mobile and fixed. Even in cases where electricity and mobile-phone base stations are no longer available, reception of broadcast signals is still possible with battery-operated receivers in cars and in handheld devices such as mobile phones equipped with a radio or TV receiver.

“With the number of natural disasters and other large-scale emergency situations on the rise around the world, as we have seen with the devastation caused by the recent Typhoon Haiyan, it is absolutely essential that the public is provided the necessary emergency information quickly, comprehensively and accurately,” said Christoph Dosch, chairman of ITU-R Study Group 6 (Broadcasting service). “Terrestrial television and radio broadcasters provide the fastest, reliable and most effective means of delivering information to the public in these critical situations.”