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DEWN Disaster and Emergency Warning Network Sri Lanka

DEWN mobile alert system
DRM Phase: Risk Reduction
Organization: Disaster Management Centre, Sri Lanka and Dialog Telekom

This Tool from Sri Lanka utilizes ICT for society's resilience and is associated with the keywords: Enhancing CoordinationEnhancing Risk Monitoring & WarningEnhancing Communication and Coordination

Disaster and Emergency Warning Network (DEWN) is an emergency message system in Sri Lanka that enables the disaster centre to use Sri Lanka's largest mobile service provider to send mass alerts as well as more specific warnings customized by region. It can also be used to warn emergency workers before mass alerts are sent out.

The DEWN system uses widely available mobile communications technologies such as short messages service (SMS) for early warning and cell broadcast (CB) and its purpose is to provide a cost effective but reliable mass alert system. In May 2017, the system was used by Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre to warn people in various parts of the country about rising water levels, floodings and landslides.

Learn more about DEWN in a paper by GSMA (2015) or an article on ReliefWeb (2017).

Learn more about DEWN (pdf)