Transcript Rio Cobre Community Flood Warning System

LEADERS 2006 COURSE
International Course on Development and Disasters with a Special
Focus on Health November 30 – December 1, 2006
ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS:
ODPEM AND ICT
Ronald Jackson
Director General (Actg.)
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management
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Outline
Upon completion of this module, participants will be aware
of the following:
The
Importance of Communication in Disaster
Management
Be
aware of the various methods of information
communication systems used by ODPEM
Be
exposed to some examples of these sources in use at
ODPEM

Challenges Experienced in the utilization of ICT Systems
Ongoing
Development at ODPEM
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Introduction
Unplanned Settlements
 The global experience Increased
occurrences in natural disasters
 Significant Damage in billions of dollars
 The Challenge is therefore to predict,
forecast and manage hazards to reduce
threat to life and property
 Communication is therefore essential to
the process of risk reduction

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DEFINITION
Communication the process of
sharing information a form of social
interaction where at least two
interacting agents share a common set
of signs and language.
 In a simplistic form information is sent
from a sender or encoder to a receiver
or decoder.

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DEFINITIONS

Communication:
"Any act by which one person gives to or
receives from another person information
about that person's needs, desires,
perceptions, knowledge, or affective states.
Communication may be intentional or
unintentional, may involve conventional or
unconventional signals, may take linguistic or
nonlinguistic forms, and may occur through
spoken or other modes."
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DEFINITION

Information Communication
Technology (ICT): is concerned with
the use of technology in managing and
processing and communicating
information
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Communication facilitates
situational awareness at all stages
of the Disaster Cycle
Mitigation
Preparedness
GIS
Planning
DISASTER
Recovery
Rehabilitation
Reconstruction
Response
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Importance of Communication
In Disaster Management?

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Raises awareness of the hazards
Provides a means of alert and early warning
To take preventive measures to avert
disasters
Provides data for:

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integration and analysis of spatial and temporal
disaster data
modeling and simulation disasters more precisely.
Allows for real-time decision making and
enhance emergency response capabilities.
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Importance of Communication
In Disaster Management?
Allows for vulnerable population and
disaster management persons to be
aware of the details of their
vulnerability
 Allows for mitigation decisions to be
made
 Builds support for programmes and
activities which support mitigation

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Importance of Communication
In Disaster Management?
Allows for planners to have an in depth
understanding of vulnerable population,
vulnerable areas, hazards and sectors
at risk
 Allows for appropriate planning
measures to be put in place

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Importance of Communication
In Disaster Management?

Short Term
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Early Warning
Pre-impact activities
Evacuation
Long Term

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Land use Planning
Building Community
Resilience
Relocation

Medium
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Training
Public Awareness
Shelter Program
Contingency
Planning
Structural Mitigation
Reconstruction
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FLOOD-THREAT RECOGNITION

The goal of the flood-threat recognition system is to enable
early identification, location, and degree of potential flood
situations. The system consists of activities and
arrangements, of which the primary elements are:
Monitoring
•Observation and recording
•Data transmission
•Data assembly and display
Forecasting
•Data processing and analysis
•Forecast preparation
•Validation and updates
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WARNING DISSEMINATION

Warning dissemination is the mechanism by which local
officials and the effected public are informed that a
flood threat condition exists.

Warning methods may include:
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audio alarms,
beeper systems to call key officials,
the use of public radio and television
Door- to-door warning
sirens and public address systems.
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What can be communicated
WHERE IS THE INCIDENT?
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What can be communicated
WHAT HAS BEEN
DAMAGED?
Map 5: Road Networks Impacted by
Hurricane Dennis
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3D MODEL OF PORT MARIA SHOWING THE
HURRICANE ALLEN STORM SURGE BOUNDARY
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ODPEM and ICT
ODPEM currently utilizes a myriad of
systems to aid communication.
 Use dates back to the early 1980’s
 Built on rudimentary methods and
systems previously employed by the
community

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TYPES OF COMMUNICATION TOOLS
USED AT ODPEM
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Communication Tools Utilized at
ODPEM
•Electronic Message Handling
System (EMHS)
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Other ICT’s currently in use
 Sensors
 GIS
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GIS
 GIS
allows you to spatially represent
areas at risk and the level of Risk
associated with a particular Hazard.
 This
in turn guides decision making
as to possible Mitigation measures
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What are sensors?

Physical device (most are electrical)
that detects a signal suggesting a
change in the normal state

Links directly/indirectly through a
computer, so that the value sensed
becomes human readable;
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Examples in Jamaica
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Met Services
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ODPEM/WRA
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Weather stations
Radar
Rainfall Gauges
Telemetric Early Warning Systems and Community Flood
Warning systems
Stream Flow Gauges
Seismic Unit
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Ground Acceleration Stations
Seismic subsystem
Sea-level subsystem
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CASE STUDIES
Rio Cobre, St. Catherine
 Cave River, St. Ann
 Pedro River, St. Ann
 North and South Gully (Montego Bay)
 Annotto Bay/Fort George, St. Mary
 Rio Grande, Portland
 Rio Minho, Clarendon
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BACKGROUND
RIO COBRE
 Floods of June 1986 cost the country J$415
mil. In losses
 Prompted the implementation of a flood
damage reduction programme:
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Flood Plain Mapping
Improvement of flood control methods
Development of Community Flood Warning
Systems Island wide
Installation of Automatic Flood Warning Systems
Flood Hazard Maps
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BACKGROUND
RIO COBRE
 Project developed to improve accuracy
and reliability of predictions for flooding
 Using advanced hydrologic and
meteorological automated Flood
Warning System
 Public Awareness Programmes
 Training in communications, warnings
and evacuation procedures
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BACKGROUND
RIO COBRE
 The system collects rainfall and stream flow
data at sites in the upper watershed.
 Information transferred electronically to a
base station.
 Alarm system would be used if levels were
exceeded.
 Locating the gauges allowed for lead time in
evacuation.
 Stations would be manned 24 hours.
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BACKGROUND
Cave River
Initiated due to recurrent and extensive
flooding since 1900
 Program implemented in two parts – 1982
and 1986
 The project was seen as a pilot project
that if successful could be implemented in
other such affected communities.
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BACKGROUND
Cave River
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A total of 21 caves and sinkholes between Cave
Valley to Aenon Town
12 of which exist in Aenon Town alone
Town is a part of well interconnected sinkhole
system, controlled by faults and fractures
Caves and sinkholes have a high capacity for
receiving flood waters
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BACKGROUND
CAVE RIVER
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The project included a hydrologic simulation
study
Hydraulic Analysis used to define 100, 50,
20, 10 and 5 year floods.
Implementation of a Flood Management
Program
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Cleaning of the sinkhole
Strong public awareness component stressing
maintenance responsibility
Mapping
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Challenges of the use of
Sensors
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Reliability (e.g. incomplete information needs to be
detected);
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Performance: guarantees efficiency;
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Maintenance and training: in-house capability;
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Cost: benefit/profitable;
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Security (e.g. hostile environment);
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Technological upgrade;
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Supporting infrastructure to maximize use of technology31
Information Challenges
Credibility of Data
 Availability (data exists but are not easy
to locate or difficult and costly to
acquire)
 Standardization
 Maximizing the utility of available
information
 Interoperability
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Value of FEWS to community
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The few respondents who felt the
system was unreliable felt so because:
It cannot stop flooding
 The system needed an alarm
 It needed someone stationed their
 There was lack of communication with
ODPEM
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General Value
Knowing the danger
 Personal preparation
 Evacuation Planning with ODPEM”s
Assistance
 Hazard location
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Success/Value of FEWS
Rio Cobre Telemetric System
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Rain gauges operational since 1993
Biannual preventative maintenance since 2000
Daily television broadcast of rainfall measures for
public information since 1993
Five years of daily rainfall data providing
knowledge base for flood studies
Continuous operation of one base station since
1993
Timely closure of major roadway during flood
events
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Success/Value of FEWS
Rio Cobre Community Flood Warning
System
 Community ownership and interest,
community participation despite political
barriers
 Community Awareness of causative factors of
flooding
 Community mobilization
 Cave River Community Flood Warning
System
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Success/Value of FEWS
Cave River Community Flood Warning
System
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Community ownership and interest, community
participation despite political barriers
Community awareness of causative factors of
flooding
Community mobilization
Attracted Parish Council financing for the clearing of
debris to minimize the impacts of flood events
Attracted environmental projects supporting flood
disaster mitigation
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Challenges of FEWS
Rio Cobre Telemetry Flood Warning
System
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Collaboration of three government agencies under
the portfolio of two Ministries without a formal
agreement or framework
System upgrade
Institutional roles and capacities
“Ground truthing” of transmitted observations
during flood events
Allocation and disbursement of government funds
Implementation of forecast capability
Cost of maintaining system
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Challenges
Rio Cobre Community Flood Warning System
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Threats of violence affecting maintenance and monitoring
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Solid waste collection inefficient resulting in dumping in rivers
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Radio telecommunications is localized and not maintained which has
affected the communication between cooperating agencies and
community groups during an event
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Sustainability of community participation and interest
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Mechanism for the collection, central storage and review of flood levels
need to be put in place
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Getting the local authorities to realize their stake in the system
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Challenges
Cave River

Radio Telecommunications system is localized and not maintained
which has affected the communication of rainfall and flood levels
between cooperating agencies and the community
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Mechanism for collection, central storage and review of rainfall and
flood levels needs to be put in place.
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Prediction table needs to be reviewed and updated
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Sustainability of community involvement
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Getting the local authorities to realize their stake in the system
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Ongoing Development
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Real Time Information Exchange
among partners before, during and
after a disasters
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Develop Community Vulnerability
Ranking System (e.g. community
boundaries, population density, hazard
history);
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Network Analysis and modeling:
shortest path, nearest facilities,
evacuation planning, simulation;
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Ongoing Development
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Web-mapping (report information,
development of 4 ODPEM applications);
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Re-establish telecommunications
facilities
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Link GIS with Electronic Message
Handling System
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Use of GIS to conduct Modelling

Instituting SMS Texting
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Thank You
Office Of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency
Management
Tel: 876-928-5111 Fax: 876-9285503
Email: [email protected]
url: http://www.odpem.org.jm
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