Interviews of Paul Margie, TSF representative in the United States.

 

On the ground since the day after the earthquake, TSF teams faced one of the most devastating disasters of the last decades. They provided, day after day, their support to the humanitarian community and to the affected populations.

 

HAITI MISSION IN FIGURES

Since their arrival, TSF experts have installed high-speed connections in strategic coordination centers. 7 telecom centers were opened.

 

- At the airport: at the OSOCC center (On-Site Operations Coordination Centre). Using BGAN terminals, TSF established Internet connections and high-speed satellite lines to the benefit of the UNDAC teams (United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination)  and search and rescue teams (such as USAR UK, USAR Peru, Defensa civil Española, USAR Mexico…). The center had been closed after the search and rescue teams' departure from Port-au-Prince.

Total of users: 25 users/ day
Data transmission consumption: 495 MB/day
Number of organizations: 14
Number of calls: 654

- At the Minustah camp (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti). The camp hosted the whole humanitarian community: the United Nations agencies (Unicef, IOM, WFP, OCHA, FAO…), NGOs (Acted, Handicap International, Mèdecins Sans Frontières, Croix…), European Commission...  Since January 14th, TSF had opened a BGAN connection and a wireless access point for UN agencies and NGOs. Due to the continuous growth of rescue teams coming to Haiti, TSF teams opened a VSAT connection for OCHA's (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) and ECHO 's (European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department) teams, and also used by other international humanitarian organizations.

For all the mission duration, at least three IT technicians were permanently based in the camp providing a continuous ICT support to the humanitarian community, from basic operations (setting up end-users wireless connections or printers, troubleshooting hardware or software issues, fixing viruses…) to advanced operations (setting up VSATs, Wireless links, full office set up…). Due to size of the camp, a helpdesk starting from 7 AM to 10 PM was created to provide immediate support to users.

Total number of users: 200 users/day
Number of organizations: +64
Data transmission consumption: 3170 MB/day

 

- At the OSOCC Center in Jacmel

Since January 28th, an Internet and phone connection (BGAN, wifi AP) had been established for OCHA's team.

Services available: data (BGAN), wifi AP
Total of users: appr. 5 users/days (only OCHA)
Average consumption/day: 100 MB/day

 

- At the OSOCC Center in Leogane

In Leogane, OCHA had set up a coordination platform hosting more than 21 organizations organized in seven clusters (Food Assistance, Shelter & NFIs, WASH, Protection & Education, Logistics, Early Recovery and Health). Like in Port au Prince, TSF supported the International community by installing a high speed connection (VSAT) for UN agencies and NGOs by the 8th of February.
Services available: data, wifi AP, ICT support.
Total of users: average of 30 users/ day
Number of organizations : 13
Average consumption: 4 GB/day
List of agencies registered: WFP, Unicef, OCHA, Minustah, ACF, SOS, ECHO, Caritas, Care, Malteser, THW, ACTED, INTERSOS.

- TSF supporting local authorities

Following a request from the Haitian Prime Minister, Mr. Bellerive, TSF provided him with a satellite phone on the 14th of January. With this satellite phone the government was able to communicate with the international community.  On the 15th, TSF installed a data connection (BGAN) in the building hosting the President, the Prime Minister, and the relocated ministries (DCPJ).

 

The national Haitian police had not had Internet access since the earthquake, until TSF installed a BGAN terminal on January 25th. The role of the police was very important in such crisis since they were in charge of securing the aid distributions.

 

TSF teams also run assessment at the Cartographic Agency of Haiti and in the two buildings where the DPC (Civil Protection's Direction) was planning to relocate. 

 

- The French NGOs' camp, located in Port-au-Prince, at Sainte Rosa  de Lima's school, also benefited from a connection, opened on February 2nd. The request was done by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was supporting the French NGOs response to the earthquake.

Total number of users: 15 users/day
Number of organizations: 3
Average consumption/day: 680 MB/day

Since the beginning of the disaster, coordination and rescue centres had had a ceaseless activity and aid workers’ mobilisation was very strong all day-long. Beyond the set-up of high-speed data connections, TSF provided a vital ICT support and technical assistance to the whole humanitarian community via helpdesks. TSF adapted its efforts and support according to the requests and needs of relief workers. TSF provided its telecom expertise to UNICEF to install a long-term connection at the MINUSTAH log base. Thanks to TSF, the international humanitarian community could coordinate its efforts and respond more efficiently to the earthquake.

 

 

 

 

In total, more than 100 humanitarian organizations (NGOs, United Nations agencies and local authorities) benefited from TSF’s services. Thus, 1,360 relief workers worked with TSF’s satellite installations, with an average of 180 users a day (peak of 320 users during the first two weeks of the emergency).

High speed data transmission consumption: 218 GO.

 

 

77 calling centers opened from January 16th to February 22nd, 2010.

 

TSF ran humanitarian calling operations to offer affected families the possibility to reconnect with their loved ones in Haiti or abroad. Mobile teams moved on a daily basis to refugee camps all over the affected areas and opened a phoning centre (a centre per camp and per team). 3 to 5 refugees' camps were covered every day.

Once the set-up was achieved, a free call via satellite phone services to any family willing to contact a relative or friend. Those calling operations always received a very warm welcome. Indeed, in shelters, there was no electricity, mobile phones could not be charged and international calls were too expensive.

 

TSF covered highly affected districts in Petion-ville, in Delmas and in Port-au-Prince city centre. Team also deployed to Jacmel, Carrefour, Leogane, Lacul, Bainet, Gressier, Petit Goave, Grand Goave regions as well. 10,500 families had benefited from TSF free calls, which means that more than 60,000 people were reconnected (100% of the calls were international ones). The United States, Canada, Europe and the Dominican Republic were the main call destinations.