Q: Why were modern communication services used instead of older ones?
A: The modern communication services, being email, were the quickest way to send out the warnings. The computer can send the same email to thousdands of different addresses. If the authorities were to use an older from of communication, such as telephone calls, it would take forever for everybody to be warned, and probably most people wouldn't be warned in time. If they were to use the post this would have been disasterous.
When the tsunami hit, all of the land-line telephones were immediatly overwhelmed due to overuse and lots of the network being destroyed. However the mobile phone networks could cope with the overwhelming useage and people could still communicate via text messaging.
In the aftermath of the tsunamis, many blogs were set up with lists of survivors, deaths and those who still had not been found. All of this could only have been achieved with modern communications services.
Q: How effective were each of the services given their purpose?
A: The email, however quick it was, did not reach everybody in asia as there were many who did not have access to the internet, so there were hundreds who were oblivious.
The mobile networks were very effective in their purpose as they did not get overwhelmed by the massive usage, meaning people could still send out texts saying that they were okay.
The blogs were quite effective, although not everyone has access to the internet, or even knows about the blog that their friends and family are featured on.
