ITU activities for Emergency Communications and Disaster Relief

1. ITU activities for Emergency Communications and Disaster Relief Colin Langtry Reinhard Scholl Global Standards Collaboration (GSC) GSC-15

2. BangladeshFloods Suriname floods Suriname floods Bangladesh - Floods Indonesia Earthquake Indonesia Earthquake Myanmar Cyclone Pakistan Earthquake Pakistan Earthquake Myanmar Cyclone China Earthquake Peru Earthquake Peru Earthquake Zambia floods Zambia floods Uganda floods Uganda floods China Earthquake SAVING LIVES: ITU RESPONDS TO EMERGENCIES http://web/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/response/index.html ITU Emergency telecommunication deployments

3. Highlights: Radiocommunication Services (1) Disaster Prediction and Detection: meteorological services (MetAids, MetSat); Earth exploration-satellite service Alerting (early warning): amateur service; broadcasting services (terrestrial and satellite); fixed services (terrestrial and satellite); mobile services (land, satellite, aeronautical, maritime) Damage assessment and Disaster Relief:amateur service; broadcasting services (terrestrial and satellite); fixed services (terrestrial and satellite); mobile services (land, satellite, aeronautical, maritime); meteorological-satellite and Earth exploration-satellite services Regulatory role Standardization role 3

4. Highlights: Radiocommunication Services (2) Databases relating to safety of life and rescue operations Available frequencies for use in emergency situations and guidelines on the management of radiocommunications (Res. 647 (WRC-07), Res ITU-R 53) Maritime mobile Access and Retrieval System (MARS) Regionally Harmonized Frequency Bands for Public Protection and Disaster Relief preferred frequency bands listed in Res. 646 (WRC-03) ReportITU-R M.2033 on public protection and disaster relief Study Group activities Spectrum management guidelines Recommendations, Reports, Handbooks providing technical basis for development and operation of the radiocommunication systems used in the various phases of emergency and disaster situations 4

5. Highlights: Telecom standards Add-ons to existing system specifications: Early warning delivery (X.1303/CAP (“Common Alerting Protocol”)) System override for emergency message broadcast: audio, audiovisual, text Extension of short text messaging to fixed telephones (circuit-switched and IP/soft-phones) Definition of methods to address multiple languages and communication for persons with disabilities, in particular for IP-based systems Definition of object identifiers for X.1303/CAP messages (OASIS / WMO / ITU) Definition of pre-allocated “channel” number for 3G mobile cell broadcast use (Ongoing) Use of Global navigation-satellite systems in emergency situations 5

6. Strategic Direction (1) Further improving international spectrum/orbit management for effective operation of environmental monitoring, emergency and safety of life radiocommunication systems Stimulate ITU-R Study Groups to develop technical bases and standards for telecommunication and radio systems employed in the prediction, detection, alerting and relief phases, including guidelines relating to the management of radiocommunications in such situations ITU/BR response to Resolution 647 (WRC-07) by establishing a database of available frequencies/ frequency bands for use in emergency situations, based on information provided by administrations (see BR Circular Letters 281 and 283) 6

7. Strategic Direction (2) New standards should build (=add-on) on existing infrastructure, not require a total revamp For new systems emergency response functionality built-in from the start (e.g. NGN, see ITU-T Y.2205: “NGN – Emergency Communications – Technical Considerations”) Coordination with all stakeholders PCP-TDR (Partnership Coordination Panel for Telecommunications for Disaster Relief and Mitigation) Governments, industry, IGOs, NGOs Assistance to other groups E.g.: assistance for spectrum management in disaster relief deployments by UN OCHA / WGET (= Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs / Working group on emergency communication) 7

8. Challenges Consistently involve all stakeholders, in particular users of emergency communications Diversified community, not only traditional telecom experts Consider applying the concepts developed for emergency communications to other areas such as cybersecurity (e.g., X.alerting on registration of arcs under the alerting object identifier arc for cybersecurity (CYBEX) ) Standards work is contribution-driven but need to be regularly updated for adjusting to the evolving technology Sensitive area (as itinvolvessovereignty, security, etc) Respect national sovereignty when developing specifications National regulatory frameworks Encourage wider deployment of standards Education, awareness and preparedness Not a purely technical field. 8

9. Next Steps/Actions Provide necessary radio-frequency spectrum and protection (from interference) to emergency radiocommunication systems (including disaster prediction, detection and relief) Continue updating of database of frequencies/ frequency bands for emergency based on membership responses to BR Circular Letters re: Res. 647 (WRC-07) Ensure ITU Study Groups take due account of emergency telecommunications and disaster relief in their activities and initiate/enhance activities where necessary Encourage all relevant stake-holders to recognize the vital role that wired and wireless telecommunication systems play in disaster management Encourage collaboration between ITU and other international organizations involved with disaster relief 9

10. Supplementary Slides

11. M.1637 “Global cross-border circulation of radiocommunication equipment in emergency and disaster relief situations” BO./BT.1774-1 “Use of satellite and terrestrial broadcast infrastructures for public warning, disaster mitigation and relief”; M.1042-3 “Disaster communications in the amateur and amateur-satellite services”; M.1042-3 “Disaster communications in the amateur and amateur-satellite services”; M.1826 “Harmonized frequency channel plan for broadband public protection and disaster relief operations at 4 940-4 990 MHz in Regions 2 and 3”; Some of the relevant ITU-R standards (1) See ITU-R Recommendations at: http://www.itu.int/publ/R-REC/en

12. RS.1803, RS.1804 related to development and use of Earth exploration-satellite systems employed for environment/disaster monitoring; New M.1854 “Use of mobile-satellite service in disaster response and relief” New version Rec. S.1001-2 “Use of systems in the fixed-satellite service in the event of natural disasters and similar emergencies for warning and relief operations” New RS.1859 “Use of remote sensing systems for data collection to be used in the event of natural disasters and similar emergencies” Some of the relevant ITU-R standards (2) See ITU-R Recommendations at: http://www.itu.int/publ/R-REC/en

13. Some of the relevant ITU-T standards (1) All ITU-T Recommendations are accessible at:http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/publications/recs.html • Installation techniques for outside plant (Handbook and L-series Recommendations) • X.1303: Common alerting protocol based on OASIS CAP v1.1 with efficient data transfer • E.106: Call preference scheme over the PSTN • Support of E.106 in various ITU-defined systems • E.107: Emergency telecommunications service (ETS) and interconnection framework for national implementations • E.161.1: Guidelines for selection of emergency public numbers • E.123 Amd.1: Contact information in case of emergency for mobile telephones • Discussion on extension of the preference scheme to packet technologies (IP in particular) • Creation of work items in the technical committees (“Study Groups”)

14. Some of the relevant ITU-T standards (2) • Preference scheme defined for two families of IP-based systems standardized by ITU: • H.323 Multimedia & VoIP (ITU-T H.460.4 & H.460.14) • IP-Cablecom (ITU-T J.260-series) • Overview of the basic requirements, features, and concepts for emergency telecoms for IP-based networks (ITU-T Y.1271) • Technical considerations related to emergency telecommunications in next generation networks (ITU-T Y.2205) • Definition of a E.164 special country code for emergency communications under the responsibility of the UN • Guidelines to select Emergency Number for public telecommunications networks (ITU-T E.161.1) • Action Plan for Standardization on TDR/EW • ITU Compendium on Emergency Communications: Volume with all applicable ITU-T Recommendations