やしの実通信 by Dr Rieko Hayakawa

太平洋を渡り歩いて35年。島と海を国際政治、開発、海洋法の視点で見ていきます。

バヌアツのサイクロン災害を救ったICT

これは後から書きますが、ミクロネシアの台風と比べ、バヌアツの情報の流れは全く違いました。

下記は Masahiro Taniguchi さんという方がFBにアップされていた内容で、拡散歓迎とのことなのでそのままコピペします。

携帯電話網に関しては100%カバーしています。有人島が65です。

オーストラリアのABCニュースから

http://www.abc.net.au/…/explainer3a-why-was-the-van…/6363970

兵庫県人と防災未来センター研究員・国連UNDAC要員の高田さんから教えてもらいました。

到達が予測できる台風、サイクロンのようなpredicated disaster(対概念としてsudden-onset disaster突発災害(eg地震)とslow-onset disasterゆっくり起きる災害(eg平野部での洪水)がある)災害日本や世界各国での災害準備に示唆的です。拡散歓迎(本文をコピペしてください)。

以下

Tropical Cyclone Pam: Why the Vanuatu death toll was so low「なぜサイクロンPAMの死者は非常に少なかったのか?」

大洋州で最もひどい災害の一つであるサイクロンPAMだが、死者が11人と驚くほど少なかったのは、バヌアツの伝統的な知識・知恵、コミュニケーション技術の発達、災害の事前対策の3つが効いたと専門家の意見は一致している。

1. 伝統的な家屋の建材は重量が軽い。バヌアツの人々は数千年間にわたってサイクロンと付き合ってきて、どう対処したらいいのかを知っている。家屋の屋根は竹、現地で育つ木材、パンダーヌスといった伝統的なで作られており、これらはそう重くない。比較的簡単に再建できる。これらでできた家屋はサイクロンの風圧を逃すようにできている。

2.携帯電話のショートメールSMSが「命を救った」

今回、バヌアツ政府は始めてSMS警戒システムを発動した。

PAMの接近にともない3時間ごとに、上陸直前には1時間ごとに警戒のメッセージが送られ、本島以外の多くの島民にとってそれが唯一のサイクロン情報だった。とくにShefaとその周辺の島において。

非常用無線もあるが、その技術的な問題のために人の住む80余りの島のうち電波が届くのは65島のみ。

SMSは警報システムとして今後も使われるだろう。

バヌアツでの携帯電話の普及率はほとんど100%、少なくとも80-90%で、非常に有効な情報伝達手段。

3.地域共同体がサイクロン対応の準備を行った。

バヌアツ赤十字のボランティアは事前に地域共同体の人々に対して多くの時間をかけてサイクロン対応の訓練を行った。家屋の保護の方法、非常用食料の保存、避難計画の作成、地域共同体のなかでどこが一番リスクがあるのかを特定する、警報情報をどのように解釈するか等。

多くの地域共同体は、これらの対応準備に従った。伝統的な知恵・知識とあいまって、それが多くの命を救った。

以上

Since people first settled in Vanuatu thousands of years ago, they have been dealing with cyclones. They know how to cope.

Most houses are constructed with traditional materials such as bamboo, local timber and pandanus for the roof.

What contributes to the low death toll is the fact that the materials are not so heavy.

Prof. Margaret Rodman, New York University

These materials can usually be sourced from a family's garden and can be relatively easily reconstructed.

"What contributes to the low death toll is the fact that the materials are not so heavy," Margaret Rodman, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at New York University in Toronto said.

"So you're not dealing with masonry falling on people."

Professor Rodman, author of Home in the Islands: Housing and Social Change in the Pacific, said the traditional communal houses, nakamals, which are common throughout the island nation, are designed to withstand the pressure of a cyclone.

"The roofs come down to the ground, which means the hurricane winds cannot get under the roof and lift it off."

Dan McGarry, chief technologist at the Port Vila-based think-tank Pacific Institute of Public Policy, agreed.

"They're lashed together rather than nailed together and that gives the building the ability to flex," he said.

"The walls and roofing materials are somewhat porous so they don't create these huge pressure differences that you see in modern structures."

PHOTO: A village in Central Pentecost, Vanuatu, shows the traditional nakamal on the right and a more modern design on the left.(Sam Bolitho)

SMS warning system 'saved lives'

For the first time, Vanuatu used an SMS warning system to alert people of the approaching cyclone.

Text messages, containing condensed versions of warnings from the national meteorology service, were sent every three hours as the cyclone intensified.

The messages were then sent hourly as the cyclone came closer to making landfall.

PHOTO: A Vanuatu chief, in Central Pentecost, uses a smart phone for the first time. (Sam Bolitho)

For many in the outer islands, it was their only way of knowing where the cyclone was.

Technical problems at the national broadcaster meant emergency radio bulletins were only reaching some of Vanuatu's 65 inhabited islands.

Kiery Manassah, a spokesman for the prime minister's office, said he had no doubt the messages had saved lives.

"I had the opportunity to go to some of the islands that were affected. I asked them about how they got the information and most of them, especially in Shefa and outer islands, said they got the information from the SMS alerts," he said.

Mr Manassah said the technology would likely be used for future disasters.

"Penetration of mobile phones in Vanuatu is quite high, I would estimate almost 100 per cent, probably between 80 and 90 per cent of people, have access to mobile phones so it's a very useful means of communicating critical information to people."

Communities followed preventative measures

The Red Cross in Vanuatu spends a lot of time training people in the community to prepare for cyclones.

They teach people techniques to secure houses, prepare food gardens and store emergency food.

They also explain how to develop evacuation plans and identify those in the community most at risk during a time of disaster.

A team of community volunteers are also taught how to interpret warnings from the national weather bureau.

"Most of the communities said they followed preventative measures," Augustine Garae, disaster management coordinator for the Vanuatu Red Cross, said.

"With some of traditional knowledge, that basically saved their lives."