Télécoms Sans Frontières
Responds to Massive Earthquake in Peru
Washington,
DC (August 17, 2007) – The United Nations
Foundation and Vodafone Group Foundation announced
today that Télécoms Sans Frontières
(TSF), a humanitarian NGO equipped to deploy
rapid response IT and telecom teams anywhere
in the world within 48 hours of a disaster,
has dispatched an emergency crew to Lima,
Peru.
Deployed from TSF regional headquarters in
Managua, Nicaragua, the TSF team arrived in
Lima within 24 hours of the 7.9 magnitude
earthquake. TSF’s telecom team will
be among the first of the international aid
workers to establish emergency telecommunication
centers that provide United Nations (UN),
NGO, and government responders with reliable
voice, Internet, fax, and video connections
using satellite, WiFi, and GSM equipment.
Relief workers rely on these centers for response
and relief assessment, logistics, and coordination.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss
of life in Peru, and hope that TSF’s
rapid deployment will help save lives and
enable the communications needed to provide
relief and stabilize the situation,”
said Kathy Calvin, chief operating officer
of the UN Foundation.
“The ability to communicate within hours
of a crisis is critical to the effective coordination
of relief efforts,” said Andrew Dunnett,
director of The Vodafone Group Foundation.
“We are proud to support TSF’s
rapid response deployment as part of our disaster
relief program to get vital supplies and telecoms
services to where they are needed most,”
he said.
TSF’s emergency crew is carrying satellite
equipment such as Inmarsat BGan and RBgan
terminals, GAN M4 and Mini M, and other IT
equipment that may be needed to install one
or more telecom centers offering broadband
Internet connections and phone and fax lines.
The TSF team is expected to set up and operate
these IT centers for up to one month before
handing telecommunications management over
to the UN’s Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in coordination
with which TSF has deployed to Peru.
The deployment is being funded in part by
the UN Foundation and Vodafone Group Foundation
through their Rapid Response Emergency Telecommunications
program, which supports the partnering of
TSF, the leading humanitarian NGO specialized
in emergency telecommunications, with UNICEF
and OCHA, the two UN agencies charged with
leading telecommunications in disaster response
and recovery efforts.
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About
the United Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with
entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s
historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes
and activities. The UN Foundation builds and
implements public-private partnerships to
address the world’s most pressing problems
and also works to broaden support for the
UN through advocacy and public outreach. The
UN Foundation is a public charity.
About
The Vodafone Group Foundation
The Vodafone Group Foundation is a UK registered
Charity established by Vodafone Group Plc
in 2002. It currently receives £24 million
per annum from the Vodafone Group Plc Board
which it distributes between projects globally
and its unique global footprint of 22 Local
Vodafone Foundations and social investment
projects established by the operating companies.
Vodafone is committed to making a difference
in the communities in which it operates. For
more information go to www.vodafonefoundation.org.
