Technology consultant Sharad Sadhu comments on an .
In respect of providing emergency warning and alerts to general public, there are four main and important requirements:
1. Widespread emergency warning (EW) dissemination (precisely limited to public in those areas which are determined to be affected by the Govt Authorities).
2. Reliable and secure delivery of EW.
3. Easy method of EW reception and hearing and viewing by the public.
4. Highest level of authentication for the EW, since a false alarm / prank could create havoc.
In this context, as the article has pointed out, the online digital media do not fully meet requirements identified above, including:
1. Widespread emergency warning (EW) dissemination -even by Cell broadcast.
2. Reliable and secure delivery of EW; no, if you look at the network availability issues, more so in the last mile in small towns and remote countryside.
3. Easy method of EW reception and hearing and viewing by the public; public need smart phones (at least SMS phones), difficult to read, single language text displayed, mobile phone my be low volume or put to sleep at night time/sleep-time; the mobile network system may itself get decimated, as these are based on mostly low towers and are without back up diesel generator facilities, thus not reliable.
4. Highest level of authentication for the EW, since a false alarm/prank could create havoc; it could be said that the online media are much more vulnerable to false alarms.
In the case of really remote and small communities, these problems get hugely exacerbated and it is really difficult to overcome those in the nick of time.
The article has rightly pointed out the highest efficacy of delivering emergency warnings by radio stations, in this case the nearby community radio station. If the radio station is on air, it meets all the four main and important requirements cited above.
Thus it would be safe to say that radio is the preferred method of emergency warning delivery and thereby saving human lives, under the circumstances. However, the community and the local governments have to make sure that the radio station is kept operational.
Digital Radio
There is an additional aspect as well. Delivery of EW through digital radio broadcasting adds several layers of safety, clarity, ease of access and security to the equation. Its technical facilities not only meet the four main and important requirements very well, but it also takes the EW services to a very high level. For example:
1. Digital radio actually ‘wakes up‘ the digital radio receiver if it is not ON at the time of the emergency call. The radio provides a very loud shout to wake up the people that might be nearby, say at night or during the day-siesta. This is a great life-saving feature and is not provided by any online digital delivery.
2. As you may be aware, digital radio receivers have fair sized display screen on their front and digital radio provides text and graphical information on these screens to augment and to provide full information and Govt Instructions about the emergency, for example; location of the emergency area, type of emergency, what to do immediately to save yourself and later, where to receive aid and medical relief, The language of the text displayed can be selected universally from the international UNICODE language system and these include Bahasa Indonesia, for example and also the left-to-right and top-to-bottom written languages.
In brief, the digital radio system provides much more security and certainty in respect of emergency warning addressed to the public, and it does not work on Internet and does not need any data package.
Indonesia
Since the article pertains to Java island of Indonesia, here is some useful information in this regard:
1. Indonesia has already set up an elaborate system of emergency detection and dissemination, the latter through networked digital media, TV networks and the like. The country has an elaborate and effective set of Laws and Rules and Regulation in place for this purpose.
2. Indonesia has already started broadcasting in digital radio in various islands and territories, including Java, Sumatera and NTT.
3. The DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) system based digital radio broadcasting stations around the country, around 9 of them, currently provide digital radio services. Many of these are based near the beaches (Cilacap, Pealb Ratu, Labuan Bajo, Pianan, and so on) for obvious purposes.
4. The latest of these DRM radio transmitting stations has been exclusively installed, a few months ago, at the foot of the main volcano in Central Bali, just for the purpose of providing emergency warning to the communities around that area volcano. This very well exemplifies the need for and utility of digital radio broadcasting in protecting general public and saving human lives.
The article under reference is actually a loud cry by the community around Mt Merapi for quick and positive help in enabling them to receive emergency warnings, so crucial for their survival.
Sharad Sadhu has been actively contributing to ‘Saving Human Lives’ and Disaster Risk Reduction, through the use of radio and digital radio broadcasting since 2004, at the time of the huge Tsunami disaster in Indonesia. Sharad’s career in the media industry spans more than 50 years. He was the Director Technology of the ABU till 2013. Currently he is helping out in projects on digital radio and TV, and in 4G-5G in the mobile industry. He participates in national standards setting in two countries in the region.
