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Disaster management,
VSAT, Satellite, Global: One of our aims at
Developing Telecoms is to compile articles on disaster management and
emergencies, so that executives in the emerging markets who are tasked either
with preparing for such situations or, far worse, having to cope with them, can
draw on the experience of others. One internationally respected organisation,
the Global VSAT Forum, continues to respond to the industry’s call for
heightened awareness of disasters.
Satellite communications have long been respected for the
part they can play in helping to prevent disasters, whether by helping to
forecast them or by keeping those who have to repair the damage from such
catastrophes in touch with one another.
Last month Honolulu hosted the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) Conference,
devoting a section of it to the Global VSAT Forum’s Emergency Management and
Communications Summit. Primarily satellite technology formed a focus for the
speakers and discussion panels at the summit, with a recent real-life example
bringing home just how important it was to maintain communications but even
more important just how quickly the most important channels of communications
could be restored.
Keynote speaker was therefore Ho-Chen Tan, Chairman and CEO
of Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s primary telecoms carrier. Mr Ho-Chen reviewed the
impact of the recent offshore earthquake near Taiwan
that disabled several undersea fibre-optic cable systems that land at and pass
near his country. It was fortunate that vital telephone traffic could be
rerouted within 24 hours over working cables, but many forms of data
communications, including Internet connectivity, were seriously disrupted for
an extended period. Bringing this back on line throughout East Asia has required the use
of satellite services in many cases. One crucial reason why the cables were so
vulnerable is that the breaks occurred below 1 km of depth, where they were not
heavily shielded and simply lay on the ocean floor.
GVF looks forward to 2007
In connection with its continuing training conferences and
exhibitions, GVF is now following-up by working with a range of organisations
which are active in the aid and humanitarian sphere in order to explore their
VSAT installation and maintenance training requirements.
As an example, Cairo will witness
the second of GVF’s now-annual Oil & Gas Communications: North Africa & the Middle East. This energy-sector
conference will take place at the Intercontinental City Stars Hotel, Heliopolis, Cairo on 21-22 May.
Keynote speaker will a member of the Egyptian Administration who will speak on
its policy and/or regulatory position. A further session will be devoted to
Maintaining the Mission Critical Link: Oil & Gas Communications When
Disaster Strikes.
GVF point of contact is Martin Jarrold at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
, although
information, including ongoing programme updates, can be viewed at the event
website.
* Case studies and articles are currently being written for The Disaster Resource Guide. This publication
serves the disaster management sector and is mailed directly to 40,000
disaster-preparedness professionals. A stand-alone publication, which will be
entitled The 2007 Disaster Preparedness SatCom Guide, will focus exclusively on
satellite communications and will be printed and distributed globally to
disaster preparedness professionals in early 2007.
more info:
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Date: 17-18 September 2008