African countries need to make better use of ICT in order to do a better job of managing both natural and man-made disasters, according to a cross section of political and technology officials speaking at an International Telecommunications Union forum in Lusaka last week.

The forum, "ITU Southern and Eastern Africa Workshop on the Use of Telecommunications/ICT for Disaster Management: Saving Lives," gathered government and ITU officials as well as IT vendors, who spoke about technology that could help mitigate the impact of disasters.

ICT can help prevent problems from turning into disasters that impede sustainable development, said Mbika Mbika, deputy minister of communications in Zambia. In a speech to open up the workshop, Mbika pointed out that Zambia has had its share of disasters, and that earlier this year the country was hit by serious floods that resulted in the displacement of many people.

ICT equipment in the form of satellite phones was made available to the Zambian government by the ITU, enabling communication with areas that were cut off, Mbika said.

In Africa, a flood usually means that electricity shuts down, technicians cannot work properly and there is generally a ripple effect on all social activities, noted Richard Mwanza, acting CEO of the Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ). He said the ITU deployed 25 satellite terminals to help restore communication links in the aftermath of the severe floods in Zambia, which inundated low-lying areas where more than 400,000 people in 19 districts were affected.

ITU officials advised African governments to ask for assistance in acquiring geographical information system (GIS) technology, which they said can be a powerful technological tool for assessing potential emergencies.

The ITU's Development Bureau head, Cosmas Zavazava, noted that Rwanda has worked with Geographic Information Management System (GIMS), the distributor of the ESRI GIS system, to receive free software as part of a program to digitalize information about the country.

GIMS senior trainer Liezel Botha said GIS technology can be a powerful tool for assessing potential emergencies, analyzing where they are likely to occur and their potential impact, as well as to identify at-risk populations that require priority mitigation actions.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.