As we are in the throes of the 2021 hurricane season, infrastructure resilience has been gaining attention, particularly that used to deliver telecoms services, especially since we have become increasingly dependent on mobile/cellular and Internet services over the years.
Every year, between June and November, during the North Atlantic hurricane season, the resilience of telecoms and ICT infrastructure across the Caribbean region can be tested. Some years, the impact of a severe storm are not experienced, while for other years, several major storms occur.
For the 2021, an active hurricane season is predicted, with 15—18 named storms, 7—9 hurricanes, with 2—4 of them developing into major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). Although we are just about six weeks into the season, we are already off to a flying start with five named storms.
Towards the end of June/early July, Hurricane Elsa cut across the Caribbean causing considerable destruction in Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Cuba. Outside of Cuba, none of the other countries listed were hit directly by Elsa. However, and although Elsa passed south of Barbados, and had just reached the threshold to be classified a Category 1 hurricane, more than 1,300 homes were damaged (Source: ReliefWeb), and the local electricity company indicated that “with 200 poles, 45 transformers and 100 kilometres of wires all out of commission, some households could be without electricity for up to a week” (Source: Barbados Today).
With regard to telecoms, the two main carriers in Barbados seemed to experienced similar challenges in the immediate aftermath of Elsa. For Flow, which operates both a fixed-line and mobile/cellular network, the fixed line-network was reportedly stable, but some mobile/cellular sites, particularly in the southern part of the island, were still off air. For Digicel, which primarily operates wireless infrastructure, almost a fifth of its mobile/cellular sites island-wide were offline (Source: Barbados Today).
Admittedly, Barbados rarely experiences hurricanes and last experienced significant impact with Hurricane Janet in 1955. However, noting that Elsa was just about rated a Category 1 hurricane, and did not directly hit the countries, the scale of the devastation experienced generally, and with respect to infrastructure is telling. Although the telecoms infrastructure was not extensively damaged, individuals and organisations in Barbados were virtually incommunicado for at least a week, or at the very least experienced intermittent service.
The experience with Hurricane Elsa has precipitated conversations in Barbados about the resilience of its infrastructure. However, it is a discussion that both individual Caribbean countries and the region as a whole also need to have. Additionally, and with regard to the resilience of telecoms and ICT infrastructure, which tends to get a lot of attention, it ought to be appreciated that the resilience of a country’s telecoms and ICT infrastructure is affected by and depends on, to a considerable degree, on the resilience of other infrastructure and utilities.
The Caribbean region is susceptible to several vulnerabilities
As highlighted earlier, tropical storms and hurricanes are a major threat in the Caribbean, not only with regard to the property damage that can result, but also the loss of lives and the longer term impact on the economies. What may not be fully appreciated, and as was discussed in a recent podcast episode with Sylvester Cadette, of the International Telecommunications Union, on the Tampere Convention and emergency telecommunications, on a fairly regularly cycle – around every two years – the region experiences at least one devastating storm.
With tropical storms and hurricanes, the devastation comes from two sources: wind and rain. The wind can knock down trees, poles and telecoms towers, remove roofs from buildings, down above-ground electricity and telecoms cables, for example, and with rain, flooding, road damage and landslides are among the likely occurrences.
In addition to tropical storms, the Caribbean region is prone to earthquakes and other volcanic activities. In the Eastern Caribbean alone, and according to the University of the West Indies Seismic Centre, there are 19 ‘live’ volcanoes, meaning that they are likely to erupt again. Further, and almost every month, there is at least one earthquake in the region, though they rarely make the news. However, we all had to pay attention to the April 2021 eruption of the La Soufrière volcano on Saint Vincent, which forced the evacuation of residents living in close proximity to the volcano.
The infrastructure damage from earthquakes in particular, can be significant. Buildings, roads, telecoms towers, poles, among other structures, can all be adversely affected, and so the resiliency of telecoms networks can be seriously tested.
Resilience should be considered a system of constituents that must also be resilient
Having regard to the adverse weather conditions and geographic phenomena that the Caribbean region regularly experiences, any discussion on telecoms infrastructure resilience tends to focus on the efforts of the telcos only. However, as emerged in Barbados, the impact on the electricity network also needs to be considered, as telecoms towers, exchanges and other structures need power to run. In some instances, the telcos have electric generators installed at important sites, but eventually fuel can be in short supply, which frequently occurs following a devastating storm. Having said this, it could also be argued that it can be counterproductive if telecoms networks are firing on all cylinders, but households or communities do not have electricity over an extended period of time, particularly when there has been widespread devastation.
In Caribbean countries that are mountainous, or have difficult terrain, towers may be placed in hard-to-reach areas, which may become inaccessible when there have been heavy rains. Hence, government ministries or departments that have responsibility for transport and roads may need to repair damaged roads, or provide interim solutions, before telecoms infrastructure repairs can be effected.
Summary
First, it is important to highlight that when a shock or adverse situation occurs, usually there is limited notice, and consequently, limited time to prepare. Hence, it may not be possible to completely avoid the impact of a shock. The key objective when seeking to improve resiliency is to minimise the impact of the adverse situation, which could be manmade or environmental.
Further, any examination of the resilience of telecoms infrastructure in the Caribbean ought to adopt a holistic approach. Although the telcos are likely to have the lion’s share of responsibility, the resilience of their networks – that is the ability to operate through adverse situations – would be strengthened, if the resilience of the supporting infrastructure or enabling environment is also improved. Hence, such exercises should become more collaborative, with broader stakeholder engagement and commitment, in order to make meaningful improvement.
Image credits: US National Hurricane Center; Rene Rauschenberger (Pixabay)
