Climate change is getting more real with every passing year and the consequences can be witnessed worldwide in the form of floods, earthquakes, droughts, wildfires, and many such natural disasters. In times like these, technology can help not only in early detection but can also help save lives through relief efforts.

For instance, earlier this year during the floods in Assam, Google announced a combination of Crisis Response efforts to help the impacted communities through SOS alerts.

"Technology has a vital role in understanding and predicting climate conditions and climate change. Thanks to advances in technology, be it through ever-increasing computing power or more sophisticated ways of weather forecasting or the modelling of climate scenarios, we are today in a position to be able to understand climate conditions short term and even in the longer term," says Deval Sheth, managing director, Utimaco for the Asia Pacific region.

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He added that Utimaco — a cybersecurity firm — provides a Public Warning System (PWS) that sends alerts and warnings within seconds to every cell phone in an area affected by a catastrophic situation without the need for mobile numbers and irrespective of the congestion in the telecom network.

In addition, the phones can also reportedly be connected to public loudspeakers, sirens, on-screen TV messages, radio or other local warning systems. He also claims that this PWS solution can be used in any kind of emergency situation, from climate-led disasters to acts of terrorism.

Utimaco’s product suite for Public Warning is the latest addition to extend the company’s protective product range to direct protection of human lives. "Here’s exactly where Utimaco’s cybersecurity apparatus comes into play — encryption of the warning alerts, secure hierarchical approval mechanisms, securing the PWS from external attacks with HSMs et al," Sheth added.

He also shed light on how artificial intelligence (AI) can also play a role in predicting the climate and the changes in weather conditions. For example, how a storm forming in the Pacific may translate into a Tsunami wave and where it might hit land, which is the first step in the setting of a Public Warning alert in the area.

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According to Sheth, Utimaco also installed a Cell Broadcast-based PWS, earlier this year, at the request of the government of Ukraine, to help protect the civilian population in the war in Ukraine.

He also believes that the government plays a key role here in defining the requirements for a solution in a public tender in a way that takes this into account. Solution providers may tend to focus on the newest technology on the market, which is often only available to the more affluent population. It is the government that needs to make sure that the interest of all members of society is represented.

"Furthermore, it is very important to have all mobile network providers on board to really ensure full coverage — imagine the justified outrage if a certain percentage of the population would not receive a warning because their provider was not part of the warning system. And last but not least: while a cell broadcast-based solution ensures a high level of coverage in the population, any solution aimed at disaster prevention should also be able to send alerts out through other channels as well or be connected to existing public infrastructure, for example, public loudspeaker systems or sirens," he added.

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