Communication technologies are providing essential connectivity for both relief agencies and earthquake victims in Haiti, according to the UN Foundation's VP for global health, Dr Daniel Carucci.
After returning from a trip to assist UN missions in Haiti, Carucci said during a media briefing yesterday that communications networks are vital.
“As you can imagine, with so many thousands of people trying to co-ordinate efforts, communications is key. In our technology partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, the UN Foundation has been able to provide support to T'el'ecoms Sans Fronti`eres (TSF), the telecoms equivalent of Doctors without Borders.
“We have been helping to provide communications needs, not only for the UN, but as a way for the victims and families of people who have been devastated by this earthquake to communicate back to their families.”
According to the UN Foundation, it partnered with the Vodafone Foundation after realising the need for robust communications networks during humanitarian relief efforts. The organisations co-developed an emergency communications programme to provide resources and mobile technology infrastructure to support disaster response missions.
“Our partnership with the Vodafone Foundation has provided resources to the TSF, which has been on the ground from almost day one,” said Carucci. “One of the TSF's offices is based in Nicaragua, so they were able to deploy very quickly.
“The TSF has been essential in setting up communications assistance to the UN. We have Internet access on the base, which is vital not only for communicating between agencies, but back to home bases,” added Carucci.
Making contact
The TSF also has satellite phone capability, which enabled important connections between earthquake victims and their relatives around the world, said Carucci. “I was able to travel out into Port-au-Prince with the TSF, in one of the hardest-hit areas, where people displaced from their homes were starting to gather in fields and open spaces wherever possible.
“Where we were on that day there must have been 20 000 people crammed into an outdoor space with makeshift tents, makeshift tarps, and some just lying on the ground. We were able to set up three satellite telephones so people could come and call their families, anywhere in the world, for free - to let them know they were okay, to give them news about casualties, and to give them hope that their family members were safe.”
According to Carucci, the disaster situation in Haiti is unprecedented. “One of the key features of this disaster is that, before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and in an already fragile state. This earthquake left what was a difficult situation even more difficult, and any infrastructure that was available has been decimated; there was no resilience built into the system.”
The UN and Vodafone foundations are also communication partners of the World Food Programme (WFP), and Carucci said teams are working hard to co-ordinate relief efforts. “I can say that the WFP is already distributing food, the World Health Organisation is already distributing medical supplies, and Unicef is helping to provide clean water.”
The UN itself suffered a devastating blow in Port-au-Prince, notes Carucci, with 80% of its personnel either killed or missing. “What they were able to do with the resources they had and mobilising the teams together to respond was really remarkable.
“Everyone's been working tirelessly to try to mobilise all of the resources, and to organise the huge influx of aid coming into Haiti,” he added.
“It's going to be an extraordinary challenge for everyone who's working on this; we're only a few days post this catastrophe, and we're going to have to keep the pressure up, keep the resources coming in, and ensure that resources get to the UN and their agencies in providing materials, supplies, communications, and logistics. This is going to be a long-term effort.”
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