<incom> Forum to put Emergency Communications at the Top of the Agenda

[Geert Lovink]

> From: CTO International Events <events at cto.int>
>
> Free to attend CTO and ITU Emergency Telecommunications event to be  
> held in Jamaica, in 26 - 28 September 2006, to enhance the region's  
> disaster management strategy
>
> The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation and the International  
> Telecommunication Union have organised the Using ICT for Effective  
> Disaster Management Caribbean Forum 2006, which is supported by the  
> Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations  
> (CANTO), and hosted by the Jamaican Office of Utilities Regulation.   
> The event will take place between 26th & 28th September in Jamaica.  
>  The objective of this 'call for action'  event is to provide the  
> organisers with an opportunity to work with countries in the region to  
> put in place the necessary platform for disaster prevention,  
> preparedness and relief.  This event will go beyond the abstract and  
> look at practical ways through which disasters can be mitigated by  
> using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
>
> The event will gather senior government and telecommunication  
> regulatory officials, private sector organisations, and civil society  
> who over a period of three days will assess the impact of recent  
> disasters, look at the frequency and magnitude of these disasters,  
> discuss the role of Information and Communication Technologies in  
> disaster risk reduction, and vitally look at the role of stakeholders  
> such as governments, regulatory authorities, humanitarian  
> organisations in the United Nations, non-government actors, and  
> telecommunication providers. The Forum will also look at  
> telecommunication network reconstruction and rehabilitation.
>
> This Using ICT for Effective Disaster Management Caribbean Forum 2006,  
> the second in a series of four free to attend regional events to be  
> held around the Commonwealth, will build on the goals set by the World  
> Conference for Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan in 2005, the  
> conclusions of the World Summit on the Information Society, and the  
> resolutions and programmes adopted by ITU's World Telecommunication  
> Development Conference that was held in Doha in March 2006.
>
> For more information visit:  
> www.itu.int/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/index.html and  
> http://www.cto.int/dmcaribbean/ or please contact:
>  
> Dr. Cosmas L. Zavazava                                   
> ITU, Focal Point for Emergency Telecommunications
> Tel.: +41 22 730 5447
> Fax: +41 22 730 5484
> E-mail: zavazava at itu.int
>  
>  
> Mr. Matthew Dawes
> Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation
> Tel: +44 20 7024 7602
> Fax: +44 20 7930 4248
> Email: m.dawes at cto.int
>
> _______________________________________________________________________ 
> _______________
> About CTO
>
>
> The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), was created in  
> 1901, and is an international development partnership between  
> Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil  
> society organisations.  It provides the international community with  
> effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social  
> and economic development, by delivering to developing countries unique  
> knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of information and  
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>
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> bridging the digital divide and achieving social and economic  
> development.  These events form the backbone of our knowledge-sharing  
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>
> Despite the evolution of ICT, it is widely acknowledged that the best  
> way to do business is in face-to-face situations, therefore our events  
> have two key functions in us achieving our organisational goals:
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>
> About ITU
>
> ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and  
> communication technology issues, and the global focal point for  
> governments and the private sector in developing networks and  
> services. For more than 140 years, ITU has coordinated the shared  
> global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international cooperation  
> in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve telecommunication  
> infrastructure in the developing world, and established the worldwide  
> standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of  
> communications systems.
>
> ITU also organizes worldwide and regional exhibitions and forums  
> bringing together the most influential representatives of government  
> and the telecommunications industry to exchange ideas, knowledge and  
> technology for the benefit of the global community, and in particular  
> the developing world.
>
> From broadband internet to latest-generation wireless technologies,  
> from aeronautical and maritime navigation to radio astronomy and  
> satellite-based meteorology, from phone and fax services to TV  
> broadcasting and next-generation networks, ITU continues to play a  
> central role in helping the world communicate.