Missions

A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Saturday 14 August. TSF deployed a team from its headquarters to provide humanitarian assistance in the affected area.

In the department of Chinandega, more than half of women report having suffered physical, sexual or psychological violence. TSF supports the action of the Chinandega Women's Movement Association (MMCH) with a mobile early warning and prevention system to combat such violence.

After the hurricane, the most affected cities of Jérémie and Les Cayes were deprived of contact with the outside world. TSF teams were on hand to provide the essential communications to rescue teams and residents.

TSF organised a capacity building programme to strengthen the humanitarian response system through the optimal use of technologies

Between August 2010 and February 2011, TSF trained 102 staff members from organisations and humanitarian agencies in Asia and Central and Latin America to improve effective use of telecommunications service in emergency situations.

To combat the dengue epidemic that has been spreading in Nicaragua since October 2010, TSF set up an innovative system to monitor the spread of the disease. This system, based on simple SMS, enables the rapid centralisation of reliable data from several dozen health centres. This initiative set up in partnership with the PATH NGO is intensely used by SILAIS, a crisis unit mobilised by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health.

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti is a humanitarian crisis that remains engraved in the memories of people across the globe. With more than 220,000 fatalities, and over 1 million people left without a roof over their heads, relief efforts were titanic. With the support of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations body (ECHO), TSF provided satellite telecommunications support for the humanitarian response community, including the government and the United Nations, whilst working to provide communications services for thousands of families.

Hurricane Ida swept the coasts of Nicaragua and El Salvador in November 2009. At the request of UNDAC, TSF teams traveled to both countries to provide communications to the United Nations assessment teams.

TSF supported satellite communications and IT resource centres for humanitarian emergency operations following four hurricanes in Haiti.

Following Hurricane Felix, TSF installed three emergency communication centres for the United Nations and the humanitarian community in the Puerto Cabezas region, in partnership with the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO).

TSF deployed a team of emergency telecommunications specialists in the Darfur region of Sudan to conduct an assessment mission for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The mission was to assess the telecommunications infrastructure in Nyala, El Genina and El Fasher to determine the needs of the United Nations and NGOs in these cities located to the west of the country near the Chadian border. This conflict-ridden region, which, according to international experts, had since 2003 killed more than 200,000 people and forced more than two million to flee fighting and take refuge in makeshift camps on both sides of the border in Chad and Sudan.

Just after having returned from their mission in Guatemala, TSF Latin America teams are again called upon by Managua's authorities.