A Fragile Link: Disaster Relief, ICTs and Development

When disasters strike and aid agencies pour in to help the survivors they are increasingly making use of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs). For remote areas of developing countries, this use of ICTs may be the community' s first exposure to these technologies. And while the role of these ICTs is primarily linked to disaster response and recovery, in certain situations they can be transitioned for use in development programs. This paper discusses the crucial factors in design and deployment of relief ICTs that are likely to influence their ultimate use as tools for development. Derived from cases developed through secondary data, the factors are broken into those related to communication technology transfer and those related to information technology transfer. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed