Improving the Effectiveness of the Dissemination Method in Disaster Early Warning Messages

Abstract

The dissemination of disaster early warning messages has a significant role in the effectiveness and serviceability in an Early Warning System (EWS). Providing the community in a disaster area with an adequate dissemination and communication of early warning messages will improve people's awareness and reaction to a natural hazard. People who live in a disaster area play a crucial role in the success of EWS. Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and Indonesian authorities employ mobile phone applications, such as text messages (SMS), as a tool for disaster warning messages. However, there are many challenges in methods for disseminating early warning messages. One of the challenges is the dissemination method in which only notification messages are sent. In this paper, we propose confirmation or verification messages, as part of disaster early warning messages, by using text messages. Confirmation messages are messages that use a verification channel to provide up-to- date official information about the latest natural disaster conditions. Keywords: disaster management, early warning messages dissemination, SMS