Restoration of telecommunications at heart of Haiti relief efforts
20 January 2010
Telecommunications experts from Télécoms
Sans Frontières (TSF) and the World Food
Programme (WFP) have been setting up communications networks in Haiti for the
government, aid agencies and survivors of the 12 January earthquake.
TSF is funded by the UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation and is
working in co-ordination with UNICEF and the United Nations Disaster
Assessment and Coordination teams (UNDAC). The first TSF team arrived on
Wednesday 13 January and a second team flew into Port-au-Prince from Santo Domingo with a UN
rescue aircraft on Friday 15 January.
TSF has set up a satellite link, mostly
dedicated to UNDAC teams and to emergency responders, and multiple
broadband access points for phone and Internet use in the co-ordinating
and logistics centres near the airport.
TSF teams are also providing IT support to the nustah (United Nations
Stabilization Mission in Haiti). This complex, located close to the
airport, gathers all United Nations agencies and NGOs.
An emergency telecommunications centre in Port au
Prince.
Photo credit: WFP Photo/Dane Novarlic
By Saturday January 16, TSF had set up three 'humanitarian' phone call
operations around Port au Prince, allowing local people to phone
relatives — 100% were international calls, mostly to the US.
When the earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, Vilemé
Emmanuel, a student, was outside. At first, he thought that it was an
explosion, but when buildings started to crumble and people began
running and crying, he understood it was an earthquake that was
devastating his city. Thanks to a free phone call provided by TSF,
Vilemé was able to reach his brother in Massachusetts to assure him that
he and his father had survived the disaster.
Incredible stories like Vilemé’s are pouring out of the humanitarian
calling centers. TSF's call centres are providing vital connections for
survivors of the devastating earthquake.
Haiti earthquake survivors using the free satellite
phones provided by TSF.
Photo credit: UN Foundation /D Evans
For many, TSF’s satellite phones offer the chance to ask for help in
the wake of tragedy: Cherisca Ronald was in his house watching
television when the earthquake struck. After the first tremors, he ran
outside. Everything began collapsing around him. Within minutes, his
house was destroyed and his family and friends had been killed. A free
satellite phone line offered by TSF enabled Cherisca to call his father
in Boston to relay the news about his family and request money to
survive.
World Food Programme
For survivors of the earthquake, food, clean water and medical
attention are in high demand. The World Food Programme, the world’s
frontline hunger relief agency, is streaming humanitarian assistance
into Haiti, opening up air, sea and land corridors for food aid
delivery. WFP is establishing 4 humanitarian hubs to deliver food
assistance in Port au Prince, and at least 30 others at locations across
Haiti.
WFP has delivered about one million food rations in the first week of
the disaster and aims to move the equivalent of 10 million ready-to-eat
meals so that people whose homes have been destroyed, and who have no
access to cooking facilities can feed their families. It hopes to supply weekly rations to 2 million people in Haiti over
the next few weeks.
WFP is working to overcome congestion at the main airport in Port au
Prince and to ensure that sufficient humanitarian deliveries by air are
able to land. It is co-ordinating closely with the US government and
other actors.
However, as the lead UN agency for secure communications
in disasters, WFP is also rehabilitating emergency telecoms systems for
the entire humanitarian community. As more organizations send people and
assets to Port-au-Prince, IT needs will increase and coordination will
be even more critical.
A WFP team sets up satellite communications for the
Haiti relief efforts. Photo credit: WFP
Helping to lead the emergency communications management charge is
WFP’s Dane Novarlic. When UN agencies respond to a natural disaster or
drop in to aid victims in war zones, Dane and his teammates are among
the first people on the ground, working to support a coordinated and
effective relief effort. A native of Slovenia who brings to the job
experience in Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Somalia, when not deployed to an
emergency Dane is based at WFP’s emergency response hub in Dubai.
Unlike most IT experts, WFP’s ICT specialists train to deal with
working in the difficult conditions that arise after major disasters and
conflicts. Dane’s experience and passion for his role led him to become
closely involved in shaping and running a ground-breaking training
course for ICT (Information Communications Technology) team leaders.
The course prepares ICT emergency team leaders for what might await
them during a disaster deployment — including how to drive off road and
avoid live fire, gain an understanding of international humanitarian law
and negotiating their way out of a kidnapping
The United Nations Foundation, Vodafone Foundation and WFP are
“Global Partners for Emergency Communications”. The two foundations
support WFP’s emergency ICT mission in Haiti, and the WFP’s Emergency
Preparedness & Response training program. The training includes a range
of modules from emergency first aid to learning how to dodge sniper
fire. You can read more about the WFP-UNF-VF Partnership here, and more
about the training program here.
WFP is appealing for US$279 million to support its relief operation
in Haiti and is asking governments across the world to assist by helping
to rehabilitate Haiti’s ports, repair the road infrastructure, provide
security for humanitarian workers, and donate trucks. More information
about WFP’s aid appeal for Haiti is available here.
Video of WFP food distribution in Haiti on 16
January 2010
