Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

Disaster Resilience in the Telecommunications Sector
Policy Recommendations
Telecommunications must be regarded as critical facilities that support essential services
in the event of disasters. It is recommended vulnerabilities be assessed and the resilience
of existing telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure enhanced as a major
disaster preparedness measure, and appropriate measures be taken to prevent future loss
of services.
Telecommunications infrastructure and services need to be designed, taking into
consideration the multi-hazard risks that Thailand face, such as floods and related hazards
that include landslides.
Besides providing critical channels for early warning messages, communications must
remain operational during disasters when contact with the communities will be critical for
liaising and coordination of help and support resources.
Similar standards of resilience are required across the infrastructure network. To address
common vulnerabilities, regulators of different aspects should work together on achieving
a balanced tradeoff between design criteria for disaster events and market driven uses.
Integrating Disaster Resilience into Telecommunications Sector
Programming
As mentioned in the strategy for recovery and reconstruction, a review of the policy and
regulatory framework to achieve mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into the telecommunications
and broadcasting sector should be carried out. This would pave the way towards
the development of a national emergency telecommunications strategy that addresses risk
reduction measures, responsibilities and arrangements to ensure that the critical infrastructure
is protected from disasters to ensure service continuity before, during and after
the disaster event.
Building an effective emergency communications capacity requires national coordination
and the formulation of relevant policies with the participation of disaster management and
telecommunications and broadcasting authorities.
The telecommunications and broadcasting authorities and service providers should jointly
assess the collective vulnerability and develop a cooperative emergency response plan
to ensure that some systems will remain in service even under extreme circumstances,
and collaborate to increase their collective geographic diversity and establish redundant
interconnections capable of supporting emergency operations.
THAI FLOOD 2011 RAPID ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING
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