Bangladesh to use Satellites for disaster risk reduction - it's logical

Bangladesh to use Satellites for disaster risk reduction – it’s logical

Posted on June 29, 2008 / 5 Comments

Bangladesh is a country that is constantly hammered by cyclones and other severe weather hazards. While Cyclone Nargis threatened to hit Bangladesh but deviated from its original path devastated Myanmar instead. However, it was not the same with Cyclone Sidr, in September of 2007. Policy makers, practitioners, and researchers, in Bangladesh, are focusing on satellite technology to reduce the risks associated with natural hazards. It is logical to use satellite technology because during a cyclone terrestrial infrastructure is bound to be destroyed by the powerful natural forces; where the satellite technologies will remain functional.

WorldSpace satellite radios for emergency alerting was a technology that was tested in the LIRNEasia conducted action research, namely the HazInfo project, and was proven to be one that is robust and effective in communicating disasters to the last-mile communities. Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology is following the same through the Comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) project in pilot testing the WorldSpace technology in Cox’s Bazar for communicating emergency alerts to those last-mile communities prone to natural risks.

According to the News of Information Technology in Bangladesh report – Vista Communications company has joined hands with WorldSpace Corporation to find means to commercially sustain the technology to maintain the operational continuity of the system having it ready when it is needed for communicating emergencies; i.e. the most effective communications during an emergency is one that is used frequently. See the following article – “Vista to launch digital satellite radio by October“.

Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka’s Largest NGO, who was a lead partner in evaluating the HazInfo project’s Last-Mile Hazard Warning System (LM-HWS), understanding the potential of the satellite radio, has embraced the WorldSpace communications system in to her mandate to opertionlize the satellite system through the Deshodaya Media program, with the initiative to sustain the satellite radio system and have it in a frequently used always-ready state to be operationalized for communicating emergencies to Sarvodaya embedded last-mile communities, in the event of a natural threat such as the 2004 tsunami that devastated the coastal dwellers in Sri Lanka.

The Bungladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARSO) has opened a project for satellite based sensing. News of Information Technology in Bangladesh reports – “The project will enable SPARRSO to receive data from three most sophisticated satellites namely MTSAT, TERRA/AQUA and METOP. As a result concerned organizations and institutions will be able to get more frequent access to data resources and will be able to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country, the release added.” See the article – “satellite-based disaster monitoring system opens“

5 Comments

Zahid Hossain
July 1, 2008, 11:15 am
Definitely logical, no doubt. But can Bangladesh bear the cost of such technology?
Rohan Samarajiva
July 4, 2008, 12:14 pm
More relevant question is whether Bangladesh can afford the cost of not having a good early warning system.
diti
July 7, 2008, 11:46 pm
They dont have any permission from our goverment bodies, How come they said that they will launch in Oct 2008.

Who will pay for this receivers me or the goverment?

15000? 10000? 5000? forget who will buy, i wont!
Nuwan
July 8, 2008, 9:38 am
The WorldSpace receiver (unidirectional)operates on the X and L Band frequencies regulated by ITU, which means they don’t need to get permission from any government to beam down their signal. Also the end user terminal devices do not emit a signal, exempting them from having to get a license from local Telecom Regulator (or gov).

The tech company Vista seems to be cooking up a business plan; i.e. generate a revenue by providing some services such as informing the fishermen of the hot spots etc. There’s a lot more that cam be done such as community-based radio for development, sending text files to multiple locations; for example BRAC Bank can use the data channel to update all their remote bank servers overnight, which is much faster than using the internet.

The largest cost is owning a WorldSpace audio channel but the individual receivers are less than US$80. Put in prospective, a VHF/UHF Ham radio set costs as much as US$3,000 per set. Coupling a WorldSapce sat-radio with a mobile phone, total cost US$100, serves in the same capacity as a Ham radio.

I’m sure the first time you wanted to own a mobile phone was to be able to contact your family more so than any other reason (http://lirneasia.net/projects/2006-07/bop-teleuse). If you see being informed of hazards is just as important then you will not hesitate to spend on a technology.
Rohan Samarajiva
July 8, 2008, 10:16 am
I am kind of surprised that the plan is for using WorldSpace as a public warning system. Bangladesh has a good last-mile system run by Red Cross/Crescent along the coast. Why not replace those radio sets (operational twice a day in normal circumstances, if I recall correctly) with WorldSpace sets for a start. Communication itself cannot solve the problem, one needs evacuation preparedness too. So it would be a pity to not build on what currently exists.