The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) of Sri Lanka along with Dialog Telekom PLC launched Sri Lanka’s first mass alert warning system, known as the Disaster & Emergency Warning Network (DEWN), Jan. 30, at the BMICH, Colombo, with Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe in attendance.

DEWN was developed by Dialog Telekom in collaboration with its partners the Dialog-University of Moratuwa Mobile Communications Research Laboratory and Microimage, following research and development undertaken after the tsunami disaster of 2004.’DEWN is controlled by the DMC and is a Corporate Responsibility initiative by Dialog Telekom of national significance with potential to transform the mobile phone into a life-saving device during emergency situations. This entirely non-commercial undertaking is a wonderful example of multi-sector entities pooling strengths to develop a high-quality product’, a Dialog Telekom press release said.

‘DEWN is a system that is being tested by the DMC to alert Dialog mobile users of potential disasters via a method called "Cell broadcast". Users only need to configure area information reception settings on their Dialog mobiles to receive the alerts issued’, the release explained. In a potential disaster scenario, the DMC will first use DEWN to alert emergency personnel on their individual phones and public alerts will be issued only when a threat is adequately verified. In addition to alerts received on mobile phones, specially designed DEWN remote alarms will also be used to alert nominated emergency personnel.

‘DEWN is an excellent example of the private sector joining hands with the government for the benefit of the nation and all parties involved in this great initiative deserve praise for the amount of hard work put in over the past years to develop a world class product. I urge the people of Sri Lanka to educate themselves on appropriate ways to react to emergency situations, which can play a big part in successfully mitigating damage in potential disaster scenarios’, Minister Samarasinghe said at the launch.

Acclaiming the establishment of DEWN as a ‘major milestone not only for Sri Lanka but for the world’, Telecomunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka Director General Priyantha Kariyapperuma said the launch of DEWN also heralds the Year of ICT & English as decalared by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and ‘it brings honour to our country for providing an example of how we can use ICT for development processes’.