Telecommunications play a vital role during disasters. But without a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in place, telecommunications might not serve its purpose as expected. This is expected to change once the National Disaster Management Authority endorses the SOP for the telecommunication service.
The document has been drafted by the Department of Information Technology and Telecom (DITT) under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC).
The SOP will help in identifying the roles and responsibilities for telecommunication service providers and relevant stakeholders during the times of natural calamities. The DITT started drafting the document from 2017 and will table it for endorsement during the next National Disaster Management Authority meeting.
“The need for this SOP is to guide all the telecom service providers during disasters. The SOP is developed after the discussions with various stakeholders. After finalizing this SOP, all the stakeholders are alerted with their responsibilities, so they know their responsibilities and will be working as per this SOP,” said Thuenzang Choephel, an Engineer with DITT at MoIC.
During the recent workshop on emergency telecommunications, an official from the department of Disaster Management said Bhutan is vulnerable to all kinds of natural calamities except tsunamis. Experts have warned that Bhutan is likely to experience an earthquake with more than 8 magnitude strength in the future.
Pema Tshewang
