Telecommunications Infrastructures in Disasters: Preparing Cities for Crisis Communications

This report establishes a framework for understanding the interaction between large urban disasters and telecommunications infrastructure, drawing upon the experiences of the 1990s and 2000s. While the majority of past research on telecommunications in disasters has focused on the emergency response phase, this article analyzes the critical role of communications infrastructure in all of phases of disaster prevention and recovery, which can stretch for years after the event. Finally, this report does not focus only on official communications channels, but is concerned with the entire universe of civil telecommunications infrastructure that plays a crucial role in crisis communications.