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DRM EWF Presented at 5th ABU Media Summit on Climate Action and Disaster Preparedness Conference

 

The 5th ABU Media Summit on Climate Action and Disaster Preparedness was hosted by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT), the Government of Nepal in cooperation with ABU Nepal Television and Radio Nepal.

The summit was inaugurated by Mr Gokul Prasad Baskota, Hon’ble Minister of Communication and Information Technology, in the presence of Mr Mahendra Man Gurung, Secretary MoCIT, Mr Javed Mottaghi, Secretary General ABU and Mr Mahendra Bista, Executive Chairman, Nepal Television.

The event marked the 4th anniversary of the Gorkha earthquake that not only left a trail of destruction and unimaginable human suffering in Nepal (nearly 9,000 people lost their lives) but also left the state with a massive task of post disaster reconstruction.

Broadcasters from the Asia and Pacific region and specialists working in the field of climate change and disaster management gathered at this summit in order to seek media solutions for a sustainable future – saving lives and building resilient communities.

One of the sessions of the summit was on ‘Serving the people: Science and ICTs tools for climate change mitigation/adaptation and DRR’ and showcased winning solutions provided by science for climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as for disaster preparedness.

Mr Yogendra Pal, Hon Chair of the India Chapter of the DRM Consortium, was one of the panellists in the session. He mentioned that DRM’s support for Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) allows digital radio sets to automatically switch from the current service to the emergency programme when needed (this function is not available in conventional analogue radio receivers) and even automatically switch on the emergency programme, even when on standby. In addition, the volume is increased, and the emergency state is visually indicated (e.g. through a flashing screen). In an emergency, a DRM digital radio set can wake up its user and provide audio and visual information. The same is true for cars and mobile phones: alerts and information reach listeners even if the car radio is off or when the mobile phone is disconnected from the internet. The emergency feature provided in DRM can consist of the audio announcement (e.g., a quickly repeated headline in a single language), but can also be accompanied by text information based on its standardized Journaline service component, a core DRM element. The structured text feature allows users to look up relevant information on the digital radio’s screen much quicker, in more languages and in more detail than what would be available over audio channels.

Mr Yogendra Pal further added that 35 high power transmitters of All India Radio (AIR) are already broadcasting programmes in DRM digital and AIR has tested the EWF successfully, in coordination with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), on the two DRM transmitters installed in Delhi.  Participants highly appreciated the importance of the Emergency Warning Functionality available on the DRM digital system for saving valuable human lives.

Yogendra Pal, Hon Chair, DRM India Chapter