Archive for October 18th, 2008

Disaster Risk Management in the Information Age

Published by Babar Bhatti on October 18, 2008 under Digital Divide, Disaster Management, ICT, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Strategy & Policy, Telecommunications

Chanuka Wattegama writes about his presentations to World Bank about disaster risk management and the role played by information and communication technology. Via LirneAsia Site.

“We must realize the fact that disasters threaten sustained economic growth of the society and the country.”

These were the words of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani addressing the opening ceremony of the first National Disaster Risk Management Conference. The function, reported Associated Press of Pakistan, was organized to mark the Disaster Awareness Day observed annually after the catastrophic earthquake which struck country’s northern areas in October 2005, killing 73,000 people and leaving 3.5 million homeless.

More or less the same sentiments but in a more action oriented manner were expressed at Washington DC at the two day workshop on ‘Disaster Risk Management in the Information Age on Oct 8-9.

I made two presentations. The first one, the opening remarks, was more a panoramic view how ICTs can be used in different phases of disaster management, while the second one focused on two projects, Sahana by Lanka Software foundation and our own Haz-Info – a pilot for a Community based Early Warning System.

More details with presentation slides of all speakers are available here.