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Disaster relief effort continues on Sulawesi

Two Inmarsat-sponsored organisations are using satellite connectivity and the latest technology to support first responders following the recent Indonesian earthquake and tsunami.

Emergency telecoms agency Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) immediately deployed two teams with Inmarsat satellite communications equipment. At the request of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), TSF is supporting its emergency response and evaluation teams (ERAT) working with the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) and local authorities.

Coordination centre

As soon as they arrived in Palu, TSF engineers installed a satellite internet connection for the humanitarian coordination centre, enabling first responders to send reports and liaise with the logistics operations based in Jakarta and Makassar.

The teams are also travelling out to the areas closest to the epicentre, offering mobile humanitarian calling operations to isolated communities to enable them to contact their relatives, and also to seek help.

Inmarsat-sponsored military veterans’ emergency response organisation Team Rubicon is also on the island, following a request from the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management to provide drone support. The technology allows rescuers to see the scale of the disaster in areas which cannot yet be reached by road.

For more information contact [email protected].