Mobile phone plays valuable role in wake of tsunami disaster
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In the immediate aftermath of the towering tsunami waves that have so far known to have taken some 125,000 lives, the phones enabled survivors to let friends and families know they were alive.
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To help create warning systems to detect catastrophic events such as the tsunamis in south Asia, scientific research needs adequate support.
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Cell phones constantly update of their position with cell towers, making them an important tool in finding lost persons.
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(InfoWorld) - Cellphones in Japan could soon provide a vital warning seconds ahead of a major earthquake. The country's three largest cellular carriers, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile, plan to develop a way to automatically funnel alerts to cellphones from a new government advance warning system, which went into operation last year. The system, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), ties together an extensive network of earthquake monitors on a high-speed network to provide data to a variety of users, including TV stations, manufacturers, and cellphone operators. The system provides warnings by measuring the primary waves (P-waves) from a quake, which are weak and fast-moving, to automatically predict when the slower and much more destructive secondary waves (S-waves) will arrive at a given location and how strong they will be. The amount of warning varies and could be anything from a few seconds to up to a minute. People closer to the quake's epicenter get shorter warnings -- and in some cases might get none at all -- but researchers agree that the possibility of any warning is better than none. The government data, which will provide the base for the cellphone system, has already been supplied to a number of groups, including manufacturers and hospitals. The buildings are equipped with receivers to receive data from the government or service providers. The alarm system is designed to automatically stop heavy machinery or save PC data. In the future, it may also be able to automatically shut off gas valves. In the earthquake that hit Kobe in 1995, more people died from resulting fires than from the quake itself. The cellphone companies hope to have a system launched in 2008. Â
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ITALIAN mobile phone users appeared to set a global trend when they raised â¬11 million ($19.40 million) for tsunami victims through a donation scheme driven by text messaging.
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International aid organizations rushed yesterday to respond to the tsunami that left thousands dead in Asia, hindered by telephone lines knocked out by the floodwaters or clogged with calls.
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Cell phone can respond to motion by dialing numbers or ending a call.
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In many poor and emerging countries, the lack of banking infrastructure but widespread use of mobile phones has created a business opportunity that network operators are keen to exploit.
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Denver: The high death toll in Asia caused by a massive tsunami might have been reduced had India and Sri Lanka been part of an international warning system designed to warn coastal communities about deadly waves, scientists say.
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I wasn't surprised when people used sms, blogs, cameraphones and wikis to organize relief efforts during the first hours after the tsunami of 2005.
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InfoWorld - Cellphones in Japan could soon provide a vital warning seconds ahead of a major earthquake.
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By Colin Stewart, The Orange County Register, Calif.  Jun. 19--Editor's note: Second of two columns on new uses of mobile  phones. Last week: an info-on-demand service for cell phones.
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A combined PC, telephone and television is being used in aid projects in India.
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The airwaves that carry billions of calls, text messages and e-mails have become one of the hottest corporate properties. Not only are they in demand  by a nation of 240 million mobile-phone users, they are also in short supply.
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A new Swedish study suggests that people who use a mobile phone for at least 10 years might increase their risk of developing a rare benign tumor along a nerve on the side of the head where they hold the phone.
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Scientists have found using a mobile phone for at least 10 years increased the risk of ear tumours.
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Italian mobile phone users have donated more than 11 million euros (15 million dollars) for the victims of the Asian tsunamis through a text messaging arrangement that seemed to set a trend, it was reported.