Disaster alert system begins
Starting 30 March 2015, residents of Banteay Meanchey, Pursat and Kampong Thom provinces can enrol in a disaster-response calling service through their phones in anticipation of the impending rainy season.
“[In the past] the emergency comes before the information. The other channels we have used are very slow, so by the time the message gets to people, it is usually too late,” said Javier Sola, program director for Open Institute, who pioneered the technology in partnership with People in Need, a Czech-based emergency care organisation, and the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM).
Sola explained that television and radio are unreliable for emergency information because there is not a guaranteed audience. Internet dissemination is also not as widely available as mobile phones – which 90 per cent of Cambodians own – while text messaging is only available to 50 per cent of users and limited by literacy constraints.
