After the tsunami last year there were lots of articles deriding the lack of an early warning system and claiming that such a system should be set up immediately using SMS to disseminate the warning – a proposal I disagreed with because few people would believe an unexpected text message warning of a grave disaster, and SMS will most likely be obsolete by the time another tsunami occurs in the Indian Ocean. However the need for an early warning system is undisputed.
The United Nations has announced it will coordinate efforts from various countries in setting up the system, since at least five countries have offered their own systems for the project. What is more important though is that the group recognizes that an early warning system for a once-a-century disaster is not particularly useful, or at least could be made a lot more useful. “Lagon, along with UN experts and most delegates, stressed that a global warning system needed to take into account all potential disasters and not just tsunamis.”
The best situation would be for the United Nations to set up an international body to regulate information about all disasters. This way the technicians monitoring tsunamis wouldn’t have to work out how to warn people, just send the information to the international body. The same applies for people monitoring erupting volcanos, floods, and other such disasters. The international body then warns the governments of affected areas, as well as appropriate news sources. They could also have a subscriber system, which is where mobile communications comes in handy. The system would allow people to subscribe (for free or otherwise) and obtain warnings in the way most appropriate to them. So, someone subscribes to the service over their mobile phone, nominating to be warned of disasters (any disaster) happening in their city, or location. They receive a message from the international body confirming the subscription and also indicating what the message would look like to reduce the potential for hoaxes. The location could also be changed to accomadate people travelling.
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