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Cellular communications: Difference between revisions
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== Use of cellular infrastructure in disasters == | == Use of cellular infrastructure in disasters == | ||
As mobile phone adoption has rapidly increased, so has cellular communications infrastructure spread. In many parts of the developed world cell sites provide coverage across the majority of the landscape, whereas in economically poorer regions mobile data increasingly acts as the sole means of internet access in urban and rural areas. | As mobile phone adoption has rapidly increased, so has cellular communications infrastructure spread. In many parts of the developed world cell sites provide coverage across the majority of the landscape, whereas in economically poorer regions mobile data increasingly acts as the sole means of internet access in urban and rural areas. In 2021, 93% of the global population was covered by a mobile broadband network<ref>https://reliefweb.int/report/world/using-mobile-phone-technologies-disaster-risk-management-reflections-shear-june-2021</ref>. | ||
Due to this broad use, cellular communications are increasingly used as a broadcast medium for alerting as to a coming extreme environmental event. Further, during the preparation phase, the event phase and aftermath, cellular phones are often used to organise, stay in touch with loved ones and to give location and status updates to rescue teams. The use of realtime video and the sharing of photos and voice messages has proved vital for rescue efforts across many disaster events. | Due to this broad use, cellular communications are increasingly used as a broadcast medium for alerting as to a coming extreme environmental event. Further, during the preparation phase, the event phase and aftermath, cellular phones are often used to organise, stay in touch with loved ones and to give location and status updates to rescue teams. The use of realtime video and the sharing of photos and voice messages has proved vital for rescue efforts across many disaster events. | ||
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Sometimes however, even in cases cellular communications are available, or have been partially restored, internet access itself is not available via mobile data routing. This is due to the 'backhaul' connections being broken or impaired. In both Haiti's 2010 earthquake and Eastern Japan's 2011 earthquake, submarine cables were severely damaged, cutting off large populations from the Internet<ref>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1550147719829960#table1-1550147719829960</ref>. This serves as an example where the use of Internet-dependent remote 3rd party applications or services on phones is not always to be relied upon. | Sometimes however, even in cases cellular communications are available, or have been partially restored, internet access itself is not available via mobile data routing. This is due to the 'backhaul' connections being broken or impaired. In both Haiti's 2010 earthquake and Eastern Japan's 2011 earthquake, submarine cables were severely damaged, cutting off large populations from the Internet<ref>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1550147719829960#table1-1550147719829960</ref>. This serves as an example where the use of Internet-dependent remote 3rd party applications or services on phones is not always to be relied upon. | ||
Fuel is often in short supply during disaster events. It is thus plausible that the large diesel tanks at the base of many large cell sites used for generating backup power may be drained to fuel vehicles or electricity generators for other needs. | |||
== Failure of mobile phones during disaster events == | == Failure of mobile phones during disaster events == | ||