ITU Guidelines for National Emergency Telecommunication Plans
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Thematic reports ITUPublications ITU Guidelines for national emergency telecommunication plans International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Development Bureau Place des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland ISBN: 978-92-61-29961-3 9 7 8 9 2 6 1 2 9 9 6 1 3 Published in Switzerland Geneva, 2019 ITU Guidelines for national emergency telecommunication plans Acknowledgments This report was prepared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) expert Juan Manuel Roldan, President of Luxon Consulting Group, LLC, and research assistant Felipe Ordoñez, under the direction of the Environment and Emergency Telecommunications Division (EET), within the Digital Networks and Society Department of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT). ITU would like to warmly thank those who contributed to the public consultation for their constructive and fruitful comments for the revisions of the guidelines, in particular, the GVF group represented by David Meltzer, Dulip Tillekeratne from GSMA, Cecil Ameil from SES, Ria Sen from ETC, Joseph Burton from, U.S. Department of State, José Toscano from Intelsat, Aarti Holla from ESOA, Jennifer Manner from EchoStar, and ITU experts Eliot Christian and Don Wallace. ISBN 978-92-61-31311-1 (Paper version) 978-92-61-31321-0 (Electronic version) 978-92-61-31331-9 (EPUB version) 978-92-61-31341-8 (Mobi version) Please consider the environment before printing this report. © ITU 2020 Some rights reserved. This work is licensed to the public through a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial- Share Alike 3.0 IGO license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that ITU endorse any specific organization, products or services. The unauthorized use of the ITU names or logos is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ITU is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”. For more information, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/ Table of Contents 1. Overview 1 1.1 Scope and structure 1 1.2 Recommendations 2 2. National emergency telecommunication plan: Step by step 4 2.1 Overall risk assessment 4 2.2 Topics to be included in the NETP 4 2.3 Concepts and principles in a draft national plan 6 2.4 NETP drafting process 12 3. National disaster management 15 3.1 Legal and regulatory framework 15 3.2 Administrative structure and governance model 18 3.3 Public–private cooperation, coordination, communication plans 21 3.4 Contingency plans 23 3.5 Definition of roles and identification of contact points 25 4. Telecommunication/ICT legislation and regulation 26 4.1. Legislation 26 4.2. Regulation 26 4.3. Ensuring regulatory flexibility 29 5. Telecommunication/ICTs for emergencies 30 5.1. Vulnerability and risk analysis of telecommunication/ICT networks 30 5.2. Telecommunication/ICT database for emergencies 31 5.3. Early warning systems 31 5.4. Common alerting protocol 34 6. International cooperation and coordination 37 6.1 Emergency telecommunication cluster 37 6.2 International Telecommunication Union 37 6.3 Tampere Convention 38 6.4 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 39 6.5 United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction 39 6.6 Bilateral agreements 40 7. Development of capacities and drills 41 8. Support for people with specific needs 46 Annex A: Emergency communications checklist 49 Annex B: Types of disasters 67 Annex C: Historical disasters by region 70 Annex D: Additional information on telecommunication/ICTs for emergencies 74 iii Annex E: Additional information on the Tampere Convention 84 Annex F: Additional information on drills and exercises 86 Annex G: Additional information on ICT to support people with specific needs 87 References 89 Abbreviations 93 Glossary 94 iv List of tables, figures and boxes Tables Table 1: Topics to be included in a national emergency telecommunication plan 5 Table 2: Principles of a national emergency telecommunication plan 7 Table 3: List of government and private stakeholders to include in workshops and interviews 13 Table C1: Disasters over the 50-year period 1968–2017 70 Figures Figure 1: Topics to be included in a national emergency telecommunication plan 5 Figure 2: Principles of a national emergency telecommunication plan 6 Figure 3: Four phases of disaster management 8 Figure 4: National emergency telecommunication plan step-by-step drafting process 14 Figure 5: National emergency telecommunication development and implementation 15 Figure 6: Four elements of end-to-end, people-centred early warning systems 32 Figure 7: Common alerting protocol 34 Figure 8: Training ladder 43 Figure B1: Disaster categories according to CRED 67 Figure D1: FEMA Mobile App 77 Figure D2: Satellite systems 78 Boxes Box 1: SAFECOM Writing Guide for Standard Operating Procedures 16 Box 2: The Colombia administrative structure and governance model 18 Box 3: The United Kingdom administrative structure and organizational model 20 Box 4: The Chile regulations on telecommunication networks for emergency management 22 Box 5: Contingency plans for Covid-19 24 Box 6: Regulations for telecommunication services during emergency situations in Peru 28 Box 7: The Butaleja district in Eastern Uganda: Flood early warning systems 33 Box 8: Common alerting protocol 35 Box 9: NetHope 44 Box 10: Earthquake drills 44 Box 11: gear.UP 45 Box 12: Wireless Emergency Alerts 47 Box 13: PLUSVoice 48 Box 14: Get Ready Get Through 48 Box D1: United States Federal Emergency Management Agency Mobile App 77 v ITU Guidelines for national emergency telecommunication plans Chapter 1 Chapter 1. Overview The implementation of a national emergency telecommunication plan (NETP) is an essential prerequisite for policy, procedures, and governance that enable reliable and resilient information and communications in all four phases of disaster risk management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The effective management of the risk of disasters depends on communication and information sharing across all levels of government, within communities, and between public and private organizations. In particular, timely and effective information flow is important for early warning and alerting the population, for preparing for an emergency event, and for the effective coordination and articulation of response activities that can minimize economic loss, mitigate the impact on public well-being and loss of life. A national emergency telecommunication plan (NETP) sets out a strategy to enable and ensure communications availability during the disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery phases, by promoting coordination across all levels of government, between public and private organizations, and within communities at risk. Preparation and implementation of an NETP engages stakeholders to think through the life cycle of a potential disaster, it determines the required capabilities for emergency responses, and establishes a governance framework of roles and responsibilities. It also clarifies how to shape planning, envision and share desired outcomes, and it outlines effective ways to achieve and communicate expected results. The NETP will reflect what diverse stakeholder communities need to focus on in order to address specific risks with available resources. Additionally, for developing countries, the NETP will highlight major areas of risk. This not only provides support and justification for the funding of vital equipment and personnel in an emergency, but also promotes the need for day-to-day resources and procedures that keep national authorities prepared, especially to maintaining vital communications, the essential lifeline during emergencies. This report assists national authorities and policymakers to develop a clear, flexible and user-friendly framework that guides countries on how to develop a strategic plan to support and enable the continued use of telecommunication and information and communication technology (ICT) networks and services in all four disaster management phases. It not only describes the main elements that an NETP should consider, but also highlights its potential benefits. It includes a step-by-step guide to the development of an NETP, it serves as a useful resource based on ITU recommendations and concepts, as well as expertise from other global bodies and organizations. 1.1 Scope and structure This guide is intended primarily for national authorities responsible for the development and implementation of the NETP and is a useful resource for any person or organization generally involved in disaster risk management or in the administration of telecommunication/ICTs during emergencies. This includes governments, the private sector, non-governmental entities, humanitarian aid agencies, and private citizens. This guide is designed to be flexible enough to be adapted to any kind of disaster that a country may face, it includes a full typology of disasters: climatological, hydrological, meteorological, geophysical and biological disasters (Annex B). Climatological,