Emergency Communication
The Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) caused immense damage and congestion in telephone infrastructure, including 1.9 million fixed-line services and 29,000 mobile phone base stations. Government radio communication infrastructure was also serious...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/18024145/energy-communication http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16155 |
| Summary: | The Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE)
caused immense damage and congestion in telephone
infrastructure, including 1.9 million fixed-line services
and 29,000 mobile phone base stations. Government radio
communication infrastructure was also seriously damaged.
Voice messages were widely used to confirm whether family
members and relatives were safe, and satellite phones played
a crucial role in emergency communication during the
response stage. Social media was extensively used for search
and rescue, as well as for fundraising. Social media and
community radio reach two distinct age groups: social media
for the younger generation and community radio for the older
generation. Communication infrastructure is indispensable in
securing government functions and protecting lives and
property during disasters. Communication systems are used to
disseminate warnings to the public, to enable search and
rescue organizations to communicate among themselves, and to
confirm the safety of family members and relatives.
Community radios can provide local information such as times
and locations where emergency water and food supplies or
relief goods will be delivered. |
|---|