Government Technology

Earthquake Hits Yogyakarta, Indonesia


May 27, 2006 By

Driving to work this morning to finish a story about IT in disaster relief, I heard that a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, killed an estimated 3,000 people. Electricity and telephone service is out in parts of the city, and hospitals and emergency services can not communicate. In addition, the city was already on high alert for a possible eruption of nearby volcano Mount Merapi. Since the epicenter was offshore, a tsunami was feared, but did not develop.

Sarah Gannon
I immediately thought of a Swedish engineer, Sarah Gannon, that I met in Stockholm two weeks ago. She has personal experience with disaster. She was in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the Jan. 2005 tsunami, and then in Pakistan after the Oct. 2005 earthquake. An employee of Ericsson, and a volunteer on the WIDER (WLAN In Disaster Emergency Response) project, she deploys an IT tool -- a Wi-Fi network -- to help coordinate the management of relief operations.

I assume Gannon is already in the air, as the network needs to be operating within 24 hours, but according to news reports, the runway in Yogyakarta is damaged and the airport closed. The Wi-Fi system will be airdropped. It weighs 70 kilos (155 pounds), most of that weight, Gannon explained, is the uninterruptible power supply.

Gannon said that the immediate need on the ground is for wireless communications and coordination. The target is to get that running within 24 hours. A satellite connection to the Internet is next, but that can take several weeks. The first deployment of WIDER was a prototype sent to Banda Aceh to help NGOs, the UN and relief agencies communicate. "We brought the prototype project there to see what we could do," said Gannon.

What's Happening in Yogyakarta?
While reports from Yogyakarta and Bantul -- a nearby city that suffered high casualties -- trickle in, disaster relief is mobilizing. The first order of business for WIDER -- said Gannon of her previous experience in Banda Aceh and Pakistan -- is basic communication. Tel

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