Report
Mobile provides vital communications in the aftermath of disaster – hurricane, earthquake or terrorist attack. Networks can be restored in a matter of hours where other communications take weeks to recover. The potential for mobile to make a real difference in these situations is increasing as natural disasters are occurring more frequently – there were almost as many in the last five years as in the decade before. Thousands of people were displaced or left homeless by large scale disasters such as the tsunami in Southeast Asia at the end of 2004, Hurricane Katrina in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005. This December 2005 report looks at the use of mobiles in disaster and emergency situations.