Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) is setting up emergency communications in the worst-hit region of Guatemala following a 7.5-magnitude earthquake.
A team from the Inmarsat-sponsored aid agency is already in contact with ROLAC (Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean) and REDLAC (Risk, Emergency, and Disaster Task Force Inter-Agency Workgroup for Latin America & The Caribbean) to get them rapidly operational in the affected areas.
The earthquake hit Guatemala's Pacific coast on 7 November, with damage reported in all but two of the country's 22 states.
Worst-affected were San Marcos and Quetzaltenango, where Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina reported that 50 people had been killed, with dozens missing.
Telecommunications are interrupted, several roads are destroyed, and 73,000 people are left without electricity across San Marcos.
The TSF emergency team, carrying Inmarsat BGAN and IsatPhone Pro, will support the aid agencies' relief efforts and offer free phone calls so victims of the earthquake can contact loved-ones.
