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Is This a Radio?
The news reached the world within minutes: a devastating earthquake had struck a country in central Asia. Thanks to today's sophisticated telecommunications technology, news agencies and other media were able to spread the word quickly, and no time was lost in soliciting international help. The United Nations, as one of the leading agencies in the field of humanitarian assistance, mobilized and coordinated appropriate resources from wherever they were available.
In case of a major disaster, even the best prepared countries may need assistance from abroad: no single emergency service, for example, has enough rescue teams and trained dogs to simultaneously search for survivors in a large number of collapsed buildings. As part of the co-operative international aid effort, many countries have disaster relief units on standby for immediate dispatch to any place in the world. In the case of this earthquake, only hours after the impact the first search-and-rescue team were touching down at the airport next to the affected town.
Their equipment, including special tools to gain access to survivors trapped under the debris of buildings, medical supplies and everything needed to make the unit independent of any local resources for the duration of their operations, was quickly unloaded from the plane. In view of the desperate situation, the otherwise often lengthy immigration procedures were waived, and team members were issued with visas on the spot. Some initial difficulties arose when a health official initially insisted that the team's indispensable helpers, the rescue dogs, would have to pass through quarantine. But a thorough explanation of their vital role in saving lives, together with presentation of canine health and vaccination certificates, quickly resolved the problem.
"Is this a radio?" The immigration procedure suddenly ground to a halt. The customs inspector looked at the 'walkie-talkie' attached to the belt of the red overall worn by the team leader. "Does it have a transmitter?"
"Yes - we use it to communicate between the members of the team, and with the on-site coordination centre which we are establishing," said the leader.
Silence.
Then, "Does that mean that you have more radios?"
"Yes, and here are the licence documents for all of them," the leader replied, confidently.
The team was eager to reach the town as quickly as possible, as the survival of many could well depend on the timeliness of their arrival. In the aftermath of an earthquake, every minute counts - the chances of finding and rescuing alive people trapped in narrow spaces underneath the debris of buildings diminish rapidly with every passing hour. In the end, this simple little radio was to cost the team a lot of precious time.
"The papers you have are not valid in our country. You have to apply for official radio permits and when they have been issued you need bring them here before you can import the radio transmitters. You see, this is what Article 389, paragraph 2, line 4 says," was the considered response of the customs official.
No amount of explaining or arguing served any purpose. But it was clear that some solution had to be found, and quickly. "Who will issue the licences ?" asked the team leader.
"The Ministry of Telecommunications," they were told.
"How far is that from here ?," asked the leader.
"It is in the centre of town, but it will be difficult to go there because of the earthquake. The district where all the government offices are is very much damaged. And it says here" - the inspector again consulted the book of import regulations - "that you first need type approval for each radio before a licence can be issued, plus, of course, a valid radio operator's certificate". The team could hardly believe their ears - here they were, rushing to save lives in a disaster zone, and someone was asking them to go through a lengthy administrative procedure via offices whose staff were probably trapped under a collapsed building waiting for the arrival of this very rescue team.
A satirical story? Not at all. Unfortunately, this is very real story, and by no means a unique case. But why do international rescue teams have to fight such bureaucratic windmills, while people wait in desperate straits to receive assistance?
Today, we all take telecommunications for granted. Mobile personal communications by cellular telephone are now commonplace, even in the larger cities of the developing world. News travel across all borders in real time, and global communications networks are everyday tools in trade and commerce. De-regulation, privatization and global roaming are today key words in economics and policy discussions. And yet things look very different when it comes to practical application: Control over telecommunications is often seen by many countries as an essential element of national sovereignty.
And control over telecommunications means control over every activity which uses them.
"Earthquakes are a common occurrence in our country, says a seismologist, and early warning of the population depends on instruments positioned in remote locations in the mountains. When I go to inspect and test these stations, I need to communicate with the monitoring centre via a 'walkie-talkie'. I hide it in my bag and use it only when I am sure that I am alone: If a policeman were to see me using it, I would be arrested. He would almost certainly think that I was an subversive element communicating with a rebel base. And the same goes for the rebels - someone with a radio is likely to be a policeman, so they would shoot me."
But let us return for a moment to our stranded rescue team. They finally leave the airport, minus some of their telecommunications equipment. Fortunately, their mobile satellite terminal is in an unmarked box and goes undetected by the customs service. As well, some rescue workers have quickly hidden their radios under their overalls, so they will be able to implement at least some level of communication - provided they do not encounter another obstacle in the form of an official who might, in the worst case, arrest them for using telecommunication equipment without a licence. Amazingly, even this scenario is not without precedent - relief workers really have been arrested while in the process of trying to save lives. These aid workers also often risk their own lives in the course of their work, and their personal safety and security may well depend on communication within the team.
Looking towards to the future, what situation might we be able to expect a rescue team to encounter as early as 1998? Together with the passports of the rescuers, the health certificates for the dogs and the list of equipment, the team leader may be able to present a copy of an international convention concerning the trans-border use of telecommunication equipment for disaster relief operations. The annex of this document would show that the country which they are entering has signed the Convention and informed the depository, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, of its ratification. The customs officer would consult the file with the latest amendments to national regulations, and note that Article 389 on the need for telecommunications licences has been amended to the effect that this requirement is waived in case of an acute disaster for which the government requests or accepts international humanitarian assistance. "No problem," he could say, and without delay the team could proceed to the place where they are needed most.
Such a Utopian happy-ending may be possible as from early as next year because of work currently underway on the "Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations". The Convention, which is a result of the joint efforts of several agencies including the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Telecommunication Union, is expected to be adopted by an international conference which will take place in Geneva in early 1998.
The adoption of this Convention, and even more so its subsequent ratification and the modification of national regulations, will depend largely on an understanding of the urgent need for it: In each country, national telecommunication authorities will be asked for their views before foreign ministries can instruct national delegations to the Conference to vote in favour of the Convention. And the telecommunication policy makers will give a favourable advice only if they are fully aware of the importance of reliable telecommunications for humanitarian operations.
The urgently needed facilitation of telecommunications for humanitarian work will therefore depend on a close cooperation between emergency managers and telecommunication policy makers. No event could present a more suitable occasion for the promotion of this cooperation than the ITU's World Telecommunication Day 1997, which this year will have the theme 'Telecommunications and Humanitarian Assistance'. Together with the unanimous adoption of resolutions on the facilitation of disaster communications by the ITU's World Telecommunication Development Conference and the Plenipotentiary Conference of 1994, this year's World Telecommunication Day will be one of the landmarks on the road towards the optimum use of telecommunications in that most noble of causes - the prevention and alleviation of human suffering caused by disasters.