DOCUMENT #:
GSC15-PLEN-21
FOR:
Presentation
SOURCE:
ITU
AGENDA ITEM:
6.2
CONTACT(S):
Colin Langtry; Reinhard Scholl
ITU activities for Emergency
Communications and Disaster Relief
Colin Langtry
Reinhard Scholl
Global Standards Collaboration (GSC)
GSC-15
SAVING LIVES: ITU RESPONDS TO EMERGENCIES
http://web/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/response/index.html
China Earthquake
Suriname floods
BangladeshFloods
Bangladesh - Floods
Suriname floods
Myanmar Cyclone
Pakistan Earthquake
Myanmar Cyclone
Peru Earthquake
Peru Earthquake
China Earthquake
Indonesia Earthquake
Zambia floods
Zambia
floods
Uganda floods
Indonesia Earthquake
Uganda floods
Pakistan Earthquake
ITU Emergency telecommunication
deployments
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
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)
• Report ITU-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
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 (circuitswitched 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
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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
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)
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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 it involves sovereignty, 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.
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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
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Supplementary Slides
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Some of the relevant ITU-R standards (1)
 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”;
See ITU-R Recommendations at: http://www.itu.int/publ/R-REC/en
Some of the relevant ITU-R standards (2)
 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 fixedsatellite 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”
See ITU-R Recommendations at: http://www.itu.int/publ/R-REC/en
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”)
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