The Colloquium that reviewed the Sahana SMS messaging Module was started off with Natasha Udu-gama giving a background summary to the SMS messaging Module. She noted that this project was developed for Sarvodaya and was sponsored by LIRNEasia. Primary the messaging module attempts to get the SMS to the first responders within Sarvodaya.

The reasoning for doing this was to address the lack of interest on the part of the government to respond on the 12th of september. Therefore LIRNEasia felt that this technology was needed and stepped in to fill this gap.

The Sahana company was behind developing the technology needed for this project.

All new technologies do not always work in emergency situations. There has been a great deal of research into using SMS to reach the final user. Therefore LIRNEasia chose to use this medium to address this need. Sahana disaster maangement systems have become the de facto disaster management system worldwide. The inspiration behind this movement was the Tsuanami. The system allows for a great deal of flexibility and allows it to be tailor made to local needs. The latest deployment was in Bangladesh.

The main features of the system are as follows,

• snd and recieve SMS/ email - surveys showed that SMS was the most effective way of reaching the end user.
• Maintain a contact list
• Managing ad-hoc groups to snd SMS
• Stored and template messages
• sending survey messages and generating survey reports - snd out questionnaires, retrieve the responses, process the information and generate the reports.

The system uses the Sahana survey, a GSM gateway, GSM modem and either mobile phone or a computer. Key advantages are as follows,

• The module is built on Sahana
• It is free and open source software
• It is a web based solution which enables you to access it from any place
• Built on top of a Plugin architecture which is highly extensible- have option to use diff GMS gateways. This enables one to plugin any gateway for the use of the system.

These features are especially pertinent in emergency situations.

The presentation was inclusive of a demonstration of the Sahana disaster messaging module.

When the SMS is recieved by the SMSee a delivery message is recieved by the person who initiated the message. However, the availability of this service depends on the gateway being used. The system also allows surveys to be done, where the period of the survey, topic, answers and contact list can be controlled. The Survey contacts need to be in a contact group. There is no limit on the number of contacts that can be in one contact group therefore it can allow for mass SMS spaming.

Rohan Samarajiva noted that during a emergency there is an inherent delay and so will that result in large delays and SMS’s getting blocked? The response to this was that each SMS is released one at the time. As the survey sending out of SMS is sequentially. Therefore this will result in delays. This means that the most crucial numbers should be sent the messages first. This technology is being tested now with a project being run for Sarvodaya.

Nuwan: Can SMS be sent overseas? The feasibility of that would depend on the telecom package that is being used. If it allows for IDD facilities then international SMS can be sent.

Rohan Samarajiva: Can SMS be send from one operator to another? if so, is this slow than when within the same network? The answers to these questions are still not clear as the testing is still underway.

Sanjana: Can messages be deleted? No, all messages are archived but the messages can be moved for storage.

The system will have message templates that will allow for the statistics to be inserted and the message sent.

Nuwan: Is this system only available for english? or can the SMS be sent in sinhala and tamil? if so, can these messages be sent simulataneously? The system allows for messages to be sent in sinhala and tamil but it cannot be sent simultaneously. However, mobile phones will need a special package to be able to recieve messages in other languages. If this software is inserted in the phone, then the message will be able to be delivered in the local language.

Yesterday, LIRNEasia successfully concluded 1.5 day Knowledge sharing workshop on methods for ICT user research in emerging markets in Negombo, Sri Lanka. The workshop brought together researchers from the region to share methods (quantitative as well as qualitative) for accurately capturing the teleuse experience of those at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) or in emerging markets.

In conducting its previous research (Teleuse@BOP1 and Teleuse@BOP2), LIRNEasia has found that this kind of research requires a different approach to that in more mature markets. Experience with research in developed markets has involved (in addition to sample surveys, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions) the analysis of telephone bills as well as call logs on mobile phones, and even the deployment of real time technologies such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

But, when it comes to capturing the different dimensions and nuances of usage at the BOP, there are issues which limit the extent to which these methods can be used. In some emerging Asian countries, although almost everyone at the BOP has access to a phone, many don’t own that phone; how can we capture usage patterns accurately at the BOP when it is a public phone being used? Furthermore, more than 90 percent of mobile connections at the BOP are prepaid; how do we capture usage and expenditure patterns where no billing records exist?

Among the workshop participants were researchers from Telenor Research and Innovation (Norway as well as Asia Pacific, Isis International (Philippines) and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (Pakistan), in addition to LIRNEasia’s research fellows from the University of Delhi (India), Thailand Research Development Institute (TRDI) and the National College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines.

Research methods and experiences were exchanged, and lengthy discussions on the Teleuse@BOP2 design and methodology were held; many valuable ideas were contributed by the participants, which will feed into the design of Teleuse@BOP3. Particular attention was paid to how demand modeling can be done, given the data that is likely to result, how the use of ‘more than voice’ or Mobile2.0 applications can be captured, how the true value of telecom access can be ascertained, how the gendered aspects of telecom use can be better captured, and how the diary methodology can be improved to obtain data that can be further leveraged. Summaries of the discussions will be posted later.

Chief ministerial candidate Rauff Hakeem told ‘Lanka Dissent’ that the Ministry of Defence has ordered service providers to interrupt mobile phone services in the Eastern Province, which goes to polls tomorrow (May 10th).

He also said that the government was preparing to stage a massive vote rigging on election day and the move seems to prevent the outside world from getting information on those violations in the East.

As a former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Mr. Hakeem said the Defence Ministry could give such orders only on matters pertaining to national security.
 
The chief ministerial candidate added that he would initiate legal action against any service provider and other responsible officials if such undue interruptions are effected tomorrow.

http://www.lankadissent.com/allnews/2008_05_09_12_news.htm
 

This article summarizes the series of event leading up to the impact, the events during the devastation, and other noteworthy information pertaining to cyclone Nargis’ encounter in Myanmar (Burma).

Before the impact

26-04-2008: The early signs of Nargis developing in the Bay of Bengal were detected by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). “Way back on April 26, we told them a cyclone was coming,” B. P. Yadav said, referring to general warnings of a growing storm. According to a Inter Press Service (IPS) - IMD which keeps a close track of geo-climatic events in the Bay of Bengal and releases warnings not only to provinces on the Indian east coast but also to vulnerable littoral countries said it warned Myanmar (Burma) authorities of Cyclone Nargis’ formation and possible approach.

26-04-2008: The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) also provided Myanmar and neighboring countries with a model forecast of the storm, with accurate predictions of its landfall and strength, seven days before the cyclone hit, said Bhichit Rattakul, the executive director.

26-04-2008: Myanmar’s meteorology department started to send out warnings six days before Cyclone Nargis hit the coast, based on information from World Meteorological Organization (WMO) offices around the world, Dieter Schiessl (WMO Secretariat) told reporters in Geneva, where the agency is based.

27-04-2008: IMD and JTWC classified the storm as a Category-2 and named the first Sevier Indian Ocean storm of the 2008 season as ‘Nargis’, which initially tracked a northwestward path.

27-04-2008: Myanmar’s Meteorology and Hydrology Department posted a warning on its official website on April 27. When examined, the “warnings” section for “strong wind warnings” or any of the other sections on the website, it did not indicate of such a warning being posted. The screen dump dump of the page shows that the last warning posted was on March 01. Although the department said that a cyclone was forming in the Bay of Bengal and was heading towards Burma the information was not widely disseminated.

28-04-2008: IMD issued regular updates to the Myanmar government, said M. Mahapatra, the department’s cyclone director. “The system had intensified into a cyclone on April 28,” he said.

29-04-2008: Dry air weakened the cyclone but later begins a steady eastward motion and intensifies to 165 kmph winds. “Forty-eight hours before (tropical cyclone) Nargis struck, we indicated its point of crossing (landfall), its severity and all related issues to Myanmarese agencies,” IMD spokesman B.P. Yadav told Agence France Press (AFP ). Myanmar officials were provided with computer-generated plots of the storm’s likely route that accurately predicted its landfall, trajectory and strength.

30-04-2008: A full 48 hours before the storm crashed ashore, Myanmar officials were provided with computer-generated plots of the storm’s likely route that accurately predicted its landfall, trajectory and strength.

Day of impact 02-05-2008

more Cyclone “Nargis” – time series before, during, and after