<p itxtvisited="1">
<span class=first-letter itxtvisited="1">P</span>akistan is flooding. People are dying
and being displaced. Food aid distribution is lagging.
<br>
But can they make phone calls?
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
An unusual question, perhaps. But a crucial one, nonetheless.
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
You see, the United Nations has a division -- the International Telecommunications
Union (ITU) -- that is responsible for rushing into disaster zones to help resurrect
vital telecom infrastructure that has been destroyed. Why is that important?
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
We're not talking about allowing people to engage in idle gossip at steep monthly
rates.
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
<span class=first-letter itxtvisited="1">W</span>e're talking about cellphone towers
losing electricity or falling into crevices, about shifting tectonic plates rupturing
fixed-line phone service, about rooftop antennas in crowded urban areas collapsing
into rubble, about flood waters shutting down power generators to various parts of
a mobile network.
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
Without any of this, government agencies can't distribute all the aid your donations
have provided, can't co-ordinate with humanitarian agencies to figure out where the
need for medical services is the greatest and can't, in short, respond to the crisis
properly.
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
For citizens, it's even more frightening. During the Haiti earthquake, as with many
disasters, family members didn't know whether their loved ones were alive. People
were texting SOS messages from beneath the rubble -- and having their text messages
join a long queue created by the strained wireless networks (a data backlog situation
that also happened, if you recall, when Sidney Crosby scored his momentous goal for
Team Canada). That's why there's other groups, as well, such as Télécoms Sans Frontières.
</p>
<p itxtvisited="1">
For more in this article please go to: <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/globe-on-technology/food-shelter-phone-service/article1684892/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/globe-on-technology/food-shelter-phone-service/article1684892/</a>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/emt/newsroom/aggbug.ashx?id=e311a836-ae3b-447f-a6e3-72f8ea0bd343" />
Question 11-2/2 - Examination of terrestrial digital sound and television broadcasting technologies and systems, including cost/benefit analyses, interoperability of digital terrestrial systems with existing analogue networks, and methods of migration from analogue terrestrial techniques to digital techniques<BR/>
Question 22/2 - Utilization of ICT for disaster management, resources, and active and passive space-based sensing systems as they apply to disaster and emergency relief situations<BR/>
WSIS
ITU
United Nations
Telecom
UNECE
Miscellaneous
