Telecoms must be resilient to disasters - Panelists
The assembly, the first to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was attended by more than a thousand participants from about one hundred countries.
Ghana's delegation was led by the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, some other directors of the ministry and those from the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Considering the enormity and urgency of the issue, the panelists are to review aspects of network resilience and telecoms infrastructure recovery, following disasters and how these requirements can be reflected in ICT standardization later.
According to official sources, the next official meeting of the Focus Group on disaster relief systems, network resiliency and recovery will take place from December 11-13, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.
It will be co-hosted by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, Turkey, and Istanbul Technical University.
A workshop on disaster relief will take place on the first day (11 December), and both the workshop and the Focus Group meeting will be free of charge and open to non-members of ITU.
Ahead of the conclusions by the group, the Ghana Government has already initiated moves to launch a national emergency code, similar to the existing 911, to allow for easy access to the relevant authorities during crime emergency, medical emergency and all other emergencies.
The move is to enable members of the public who are found wanting in any situation to call for immediate assistance.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu had disclosed to the Daily Graphic in an interview during the event (WorldTelecommunication Standardisation Assembly (WTSA-12) that the government had resolved to ensure that telecommunications became an integral part of the people to help save them during disasters.
He made reference to a recent disater, now commonly known as the 'Melcom disaster' which occurred in the national capital, Accra and said it was a wake up call for all to ensure that the use of mobile phones become part of human endeavours.
"Recent development in Ghana must awaken everybody to accept that mobile telephony is no more a luxury," he said.
At the meeting of the Focus Group on disaster relief systems, in Turkey, the panel will showcase ICTs supporting disaster relief for individuals to, for instance, enable victims to notify next of kin and disaster relief guidance such as to guide those affected to evacuation shelters or hospitals.
According to the itenary drawn, the opening remarks will be delivered by Mr Hideo Fuseda, Director, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan.
Mr Noriyuki Araki, Chairman of ITU-T Focus Group on disaster relief systems, network resiliency and recovery, will share experiences from the Great East Japan Earthquake and introduce recent R&D activities on technologies for network resilience and recovery.
Mr Leo Lehmann, a Focus Group Vice-chairman, will give an overview of related work in ITU and other organisations.
The ITU-T Focus Group on Disaster Relief Systems, Network Resilience and Recovery (FG-DR&NRR) was established by the ITU-T TSAG meeting in Geneva, in January 2012.
The Terms of Reference of the Focus Group are to, among other things, work on disaster relief systems/applications, network resilience and recovery, aiming at identifying requirements for disaster relief and network resilience and familiarising ITU-T and standardisation communities with those requirements.
The Focus Group will collaborate with worldwide relevant communities such as research institutes, forums, academia and other consortia.
Story by Charles Benoni Okine