Current Technical Designs for Tsunami Warning Systems: Sri Lanka

1. Current Technical Designs for Tsunami Warning Systems: Sri Lanka Rohan Samarajiva

2. Physical and symbolic worlds, absent linking technologies Mediated interpersonal Physical world where hazards occur Symbolic world where action originates

3. The physical, the symbolic & their linking through ICTs, simplified Physical world where hazards occur Warnings Mediated interpersonal Mass media Symbolic world where action originates Warnings

4. Physical world of hazards, symbolic worlds, link technologies & institutions that work imperfectly Warning Center Hazard detection & monitoring system Physical world where hazards occur Warnings Mediated interpersonal Symbolic world where action originates Mass media Last mile: Our focus Information & communication technology & institutions

5. Effective warning: multiple pathways Tsunami hazard detection (International/regional) Assessment and issuance of warning (National center) First responders (incl. CBOs) Media Communities; families; individuals

6. Tsunami waves & communication waves • Point-to-point communication networks are inherently vulnerable to congestion • No design can be congestion proof • Congestion can be managed, not avoided • Point-to-multipoint is the only real option • Cell broadcast vs SMS

7. Tsunami waves & communication waves • In a community-based (versus direct to households) model, avoiding congestion is essential • Keeping ahead of the congestion by acting fast; if possible use priority channels • Targeted point-to-multipoint media • Addressable satellite radio (Disaster Warning, Response and Recovery) • 10 second from activation to alert

8. Key elements of the LIRNEasia/Sarvodaya design • Improve hazard detection & monitoring • What can we do at village level? • Not tsunami detection; but ability to identify & communicate abnormal phenomena • Villagers as active participant, not just passive recipients • Improve transmission of warnings • Really up to the government • But we can supplement • How to alert a village when the radios and TVs are off and the police are far away

9. Key elements • Improve preparedness to receive warnings and act appropriately • Last-mile problem; fully within Sarvodaya’s Grama Swarajya concept • Partly a communication problem • Solutions are customized for each village • Partly a question of the mind • Preparedness through training and drills • Identification of hazards and preparing responses through training and simulations • Marking out evacuation paths, etc. • Partly a law and order problem • Village self governance in collaboration with police

10. First phase • How village organization matters • Can better organized villages take decisions faster and take right action? • How training matters • “Disaster preparedness through knowledge and participation” • Availability of [two-way] ICT (free of congestion, with redundancy) is a necessary condition • Need to know what works and what appropriate mixes are

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12. Partners and responsibilities • LIRNEasia: Research design and project management • IDRC: Funding • TVEAP: Training of trainers; evaluation • Sarvodaya Shanti Sena: Trainers and evaluators • Sarvodaya DMC: Hazard info hub • Sarvodaya tech services: Telecenters using VSATs; maintenance of equipment

13. Partners and responsibilities • WorldSpace: DWRR • Mobile operator (Dialog) and software partner (MicroImage): Multi-lingual SMS on Java; priority SMS? • London School of Economics (Dr Gordon Gow): CAP and international best practices

14. Our objectives • Generate research findings as quickly as possible (even though project runs until November 2007) • Use those findings to provide appropriate ICTs and training to • All 226 tsunami-affected villages • All 15,000 Sarvodaya villages • All ~30,000 villages in our country

15. Preparedness: the bulwark that saves lives