 It's a question of magnitude. Any disaster can be almost insurmountable. It can happen to a developed country, to a developing country, to at least a developed country. None of us are immune. When a disaster happens, those first hours and days are absolutely crucial. The work we did with the ITU, it was a big part of making sure that those terrible events weren't even worse than they were. When disaster strikes, damage to a country's communications network might seem like a low priority. Yet communications are essential to emergency relief efforts, enabling rescue teams to coordinate their work, helping local authorities keep order, and providing victims with vital information. Since 2002, the International Telecommunication Union and its partners have worked to establish emergency communications in the aftermath of disasters. ITU is there to make sure that within the first 24 hours we are on the ground and we restore communications. We cut out also assessments and advise the government on the best way to resuscitate and make sure that they restore order. As well as providing a vital logistical tool for governments and emergency workers, ITU also helps victims to communicate with their families. Telecommunication is the first relief for the victims, first that people ask or people are looking for when they hear about disaster in one place. So to set up as fast as possible the telecommunication is one of the main job that we have to do so the family can see and they know what is happening there. To deliver the best possible support in the shortest possible time, ITU has formed a range of strategic partnerships. Financial partners help activities across the board, air freight companies deliver equipment to disaster zones, and private telecoms companies provide in-kind support in the shape of the latest technologies such as the RIAS XT satellite system. The satellite can support putting up to 20% of its total power into a single spot beam. Now why that is important because it can support a large number of calls and putting up a huge capacity when a disaster occurs in a small geographical region. The latest generation of satellite technology allows emergency teams to make full use of the internet as well as phones. While voice communications remains absolutely crucial, the need to have internet both for logistics, for data IP, for video IP, having these devices at hand is hugely important. Among many benefits, internet access can help with medical diagnostics allowing doctors in the field to get second opinions from experts away from the disaster zone. The earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 was to provide perhaps the sternest test yet for ITU and its partners. The magnitude 7 quake had its epicenter just 17 kilometres from the capital, Port-au-Prince, bringing the city's already inadequate infrastructure to its knees. ITU in record time was in Haiti. We deployed a hybrid of technologies brought by satellite terminals, base stations from Qualcomm, CDMA, the latest technology, and we set up senders where statistics would be collected for the dead, the missing, and other persons who were injured. We also made sure that we gave the government telecommunication resources for them to be able to communicate. The infrastructure was so badly damaged that the satellite devices that were able to put in the hands of local officials became in effect the default communications devices for a number of days after, and that was pretty important. The influx of so many different aid agencies posed a unique challenge for ITU. There were some actors who came and they were just using frequencies which they allocated themselves and that caused a lot of interferences. But in the end, thanks to our work, there was more order than chaos. Once the authorities had restored order, satellite systems were made available for victims to contact loved ones living overseas. Nearly two years after the earthquake, ITU's work in Haiti is still far from over. In the case of Haiti, we left our systems there because there was an outbreak of cholera. We still have telecommunications resources to make sure that rural communities which are not connected continue to be able to communicate with the world. One of the least developed countries in the world, Haiti was and still is especially vulnerable. Yet even more prosperous countries can be struck down. On the 11th of March 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck the eastern half of Japan. The most powerful earthquake in Japanese history triggered a tsunami that killed tens of thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Both terrestrial and mobile phone networks were heavily damaged, hampering the response of emergency services. And Japan is always here instead of the technology, but well, the threat of disaster is bigger than all of us. As in Haiti, ITU responded with the deployment of satellite phones and internet systems. The satellite mobile phones were highly useful for activities such as safety, confirmation, rescue and recovery efforts. Through such experiences, we acknowledged the importance of IFC. Therefore, in this April, we decided to contribute approximately 160,000 Swiss francs to IFC. We hope this will be used for emergency telecommunications in other affected countries like us. You saw the response and the reconstruction took a record short time for Japan. We are using their case study to help other countries so that when they fall victim, they can be able to do. But I'm very proud to say that Japan is one of the most prepared countries across the globe. As well as Haiti in Japan, over the past two years, ITU has provided emergency assistance to Pakistan, Chile, Indonesia and many more. But ITU's efforts are not restricted to reacting to disasters. It is better to reduce the risk and to prevent than to react after. So ITU dedicates probably 80% of its time in preparedness and mitigation. Preparedness takes many forms. From public information campaigns to investing in seismological sensors to help predict when earthquakes are most likely to happen. The most important thing is for people to know what it is they can do to prepare and there's still a tendency for people to get complacent in between these disasters. Even in South Florida where we provide a lot of service after hurricanes, it's been a number of years down there since there's been a significant event and there's a lot of complacency down there and the government is concerned about that and I'm sure that same situation applies in other countries. Governments too have been known to be complacent, hoping for the best rather than investing in disaster risk reduction. They always tell policymakers when I meet them that normally they avoid dedicating a lot of resources to disaster prevention or preparedness because they think it's a waste of money. But when the disaster does strike, that's when you realize that it was a good and worthwhile investment. And there is now a growing recognition among policymakers that spending money on disaster preparedness also contributes to development in more general terms. For ITU, the two aims should go hand in hand. We need to ensure that we incorporate resilient features when we develop ICT infrastructure. When building human capacity, it is important to train ICT professionals to also be humanitarian actors helping to save lives.