Telecommunications technology plays a key role in all stages of disaster management. The focus should be on alleviating the disaster and ensuring the functioning of networks and the retrieval of key information," said Hideo Imanaka, Adviser for Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
According to data from the ITU Research Division, during 2016 more than 445 million people worldwide were affected by natural disasters, 26 million people were left in poverty and the destruction generated losses for US$ 250 billion. For Vanessa Gray, ITU's Senior Analyst, the role of telecommunication systems in many cases begins before the event: "(...) with hurricane tracking, making impact predictions, generating alerts for communities, and providing life-saving information."