Emergency Communications

Organizations and Special Projects

International

• Working Group On Emergency Telecommunications (WGET), convened by the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), includes all UN agencies as well as many other international and national, governmental and nongovernmental institutions involved in humanitarian assistance.

  The WGET meets periodically and deals with regulatory and legal as well as operational and technical issues of emergency telecommunications. It works towards the implementation of the ITU Resolutions concerning Telecommunications for Disaster Mitigation and Disaster Relief Operation and towards an efficient co-ordination of field telecommunications.

• Global Disaster Information Network initiative

Canada

• Association of Public Safety Communications Officials - Canada was established to foster the development and progress the art of public safety communications through research, planning, training and education.
• Canadian Coast Guard Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) Program provides marine safety communications and manages vessel traffic.
• Communications Security Establishment (Canada) provides advice and guidance to Canadian government institutions on the means of ensuring the security of communications and computer systems.
• Industry Canada - Emergency Telecommunications Website developed by Industry Canada to provide information concerning departmental policies, programs and projects supporting emergency telecommunications.
• Emergency Communications for Southwest British Columbia is a company formed under the BC Company Act to provide essential services to the B.C. lower mainland. The services include Disaster Management, a Wide Area Radio Network, Consolidated Dispatch and a Records Management System.

United Kingdom

• The Disaster Relief Communications Foundation (DRCF) is a small registered charity, established in 1986. It's members are private individuals, unpaid Volunteers, who put their professional communications skills to use for the benifit of the Humanitarian Aid community. The DRCF was formed in the UK, but some of its members operate from other places. All DRCF members are professionally qualified and experienced emergency communicators, who hold both Amateur and professional radio licences.

United States

• Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International
• The Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership Forum EIIP is a voluntary association of organizations and individuals, seeking to enhance their effectiveness in coping with disasters and emergency situations, by exploring the opportunity for sharing information and ideas made possible by electronic technology.
• National Communications System (USA) is the lead agency for the planning, coordination and integration of US government telecommunications capabilities to ensure access to, and use of critical information services required for effective response in an all hazards environment.
• The Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee provides advice and recommendations to the Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on operational, technical, and spectrum requirements of Federal, state, and local public safety entities through the year 2010.
• The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), a new federation of associations representing public safety telecommunications was formed May 1, 1997 to follow up on the recommendations of the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Council (PSWAC). In addition, NPSTC acts as a resource and advocate for public safety telecommunications issues.

Emergency Information Networks

United States

• California Emergency Digital Information Service (EDIS)
• Emergency Managers Weather Information Network NOAA, National Weather Service's Radio/Wireless Dissemination System

Emergency Notification Systems

Wireless Systems

• Intelligent Wireless Solutions Corporation Commercial Site

On-line Discussion Groups

• Emergency Telecommunications Mailing List
  
  The WGET secretariat maintains an e-mail list for the distribution of information between meetings.
  
  To subscribe to this list, please send an e-mail to: mailserv@itu.int with the subject field left blank with text in the body of the message reading: subscribe emergency-telecoms.
  
  This will subscribe the user to the list with the e-mail address from which the message was sent.
  

Reference Materials

• Computing and Communications in the Extreme: Research for Crisis Management and Other Applications Steering Committee, Workshop Series on High Performance Computing and Communications, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications, National Academy Press, National Academy of Sciences, 1996
• Disaster Communications Manual The needs of disaster communications and aid communications are in some respects similar, but the operational needs of the two distinct types of organisation are quite different. This document is about disaster communications, but the information is applicable to aid users also, provided the differences are understood.
• The Intelligent City And Emergency Management In The 21st Century by Christian E. Stalberg. Paper on how the emergence of the intelligent city in the 21st century will radically transform emergency management as we know it today. Computing and telecommunications technologies, once separate and well-defined, will merge and their distinctiveness will blur.
• Where There Is No Telephone A handbook on short wave radio and LEO satellite communication for missions and aid agencies in developing countries. The book describes how to plan, select, install, operate and maintain a radio telephone network in these countries. It deals with the peculiar and special considerations necessary for reliable operations and will assist both technical and non-technical personnel.

Amateur Radio

Organizations

• Australian Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network (WICEN)
• AMSAT Home Page
• The American Radio Relay League
• New Zealand Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
• Radio Amateurs of Canada Emegency Communications
• The Radio Society of Great Britain
• Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
• San Diego County RACES (Emergency and Disaster Mutual-Aid Communications)

Other Sources

• Other Amateur Radio Web Locations

Interoperability and General Telecommunications Information Sources

• International Telecommunications Union
• The International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC) is a non-profit corporation formed to promote the creation and adoption of international standards for multipoint document and video teleconferencing.
• The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the protocol engineering and development arm of the Internet. The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual.
• Telecom information resources. A very comprehensive, searchable set of links to telecom sites on the Internat, compiled and maintained by Professor Jeff MacKie-Mason of the University of Michigan.