ALEXANDRIA: As local Alexandrians peacefully strolled along the Corniche nibbling on cotton candy and soaking in the fresh Mediterranean breeze, a field of well-polished black Mercedes with tinted windows screeched to a halt outside the Sheraton Hotel Montazah in Alexandria on Saturday morning to deliver speakers and international VIPs to the inauguration of a high-level regional conference on telecommunication techniques in emergency and disaster relief management. Attracting more than 250 delegates from 25 different nations representing prominent international organizations, national governments, the United Nations (UN), and telecommunications companies, the four day long forum titled "Disaster: Relief and Management: International Cooperation and the Role of ICT , is a joint initiative organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the League of Arab States, UN Agencies, and the UN Information Center in Cairo in an effort to form enhanced regional cooperation mechanisms in the field of disaster and emergency communications. The event featured a large number of national and international VIPs including Abdel Labib, Governor of Alexandria, who welcomed the diverse audience by expressing gratitude to the conference organizers for holding 'this important conference' in Alexandria. "This conference handles a range of extremely important topics that are of great concern to the Egyptian government. We take disaster prevention and relief seriously and we work hard here in Alexandria to protect the environment and our people, Labib stated. Present at the forum was also Ahmed Al-Anwar, the Egyptian assistant minister of environment for legal affairs who carefully declared to his audience that 'all people have the right to live in a clean environment'. Furthermore, Al-Anwar stated that 'it is our national duty to carefully protect the environment under the new Egyptian constitution'. "So does that mean that there will be less trash and pollution in Cairo under the new constitution? one skeptical Cairene attendee whispered. Sir David Veness, under-secretary general for safety and security at the United Nations and a veteran figure in disaster relief with a long tenure at the United Nations and the British Intelligence Service, emphasized the importance of establishing an international cooperation network with the aim of ameliorating communication techniques between national governments, international organizations and telecommunications companies. "Sadly we have seen increasing amounts of devastating natural disasters in many corners of the world in recent time. Dire tragedies such as the South East Asia Tsunami of 2004, the South Asia earthquake in 2005, and the North American Hurricane Katrina of 2005 clearly demonstrate the need for better disaster prevention and relief communication techniques, Sir Veness said in an interview with The Daily Star Egypt. Furthermore, Veness stressed the need for increased awareness about disaster prevention through public outreach programs, implementation of well-trained emergency personnel, and adequate financial support for relief programs. "Enhanced understanding of the severe implications of natural disasters in addition to having well-trained personnel and robust financial support are key formulas for forming an efficient global disaster relief network for the international community, Sir Veness told The Daily Star Egypt. While the forum will mainly focus on the creation of better relief management in the underdeveloped countries of the Arab region, Sir Veness pointed out that more advanced communication techniques for disaster relief management are well-needed in the developed world as well. "One shall not forget that the developed world is not exempt from natural disasters and emergencies by any means. Just look at hurricane Katrina that demolished large parts of New Orleans in the US two years ago. Better emergency and relief communications methods are needed in all parts of the world today, he continued. According to professor Mostafa Kamal Tolda, former under secretary-general at UN agency Unep, large increase in population growth in many of the world's underdeveloped countries has become a major obstacle to global disaster relief management. "Today, there are hundreds of mega cities housing more than 10 million inhabitants compared to a few decades ago when only a few such existed. Many of these metropolises are located in poor underdeveloped countries where relief programs and advanced communications techniques are very limited or hardly in existence. Imagine the devastating impact of a natural disaster on one of these mega cities, Toda stressed. The conference is expected to last until Thursday afternoon and will feature presentations, discussions, and group workshops on a wide range of topics related to disaster relief management and the role of Telecommunications. Topics include 'International Cooperation in Disaster Warning', 'Safety and Security in Disaster Management', and 'The Critical Role of Telecommunications in Disaster Management' and presenters include nationals of Thailand, Sweden, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Switzerland among many others. "More than 1 million human lives are lost each decade in natural disasters. Disaster relief costs amount to more than 65 billion USD at the moment. Something must be done to reduce these numbers, Dr. Cosmos Zavazava, Head of Emergency Communications at ITU stressed. Like Sir Veness, Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, suggested the forming of a 'resilient telecommunications network that provides vital information from authority to authority and from authority to citizen in the event of an emergency.' "Loss of human lives and disruption of national economies can be significantly reduced if Emergency Telecommunications tools are integrated into awareness and educational programs. Any disaster reduction measure that does not have a close tie to telecommunications is not an effective tool, Al-Basheer continued. Sir Veness, who is chairing several of the conference sessions, has high hopes about the event and expects that substantial solutions to disaster relief communications will come out of the conference. "I hope that this event will serve as a catalyst for establishing a regional cooperation network in the Middle East for disaster relief communications, Sir Veness told The Daily Star Egypt.
