Connecting to the world when disaster strikes

Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) provides connectivity wherever disaster strikes to co-ordinate aid efforts and link devastated regions to the outside world.

TSF uses satellite communications to provide a three minute telephone call to affected families, broadband connections, phone and fax services and videoconferencing facilities when disaster strikes.

Oisin Walton, information and communications co-ordinator for TSF, said: "Without mobile comms and satellite mobiles, TSF would never have been created."

TSF is currently working in Uruguay following heavy floods which affected an estimated 285,000 people.

The charity deployed a communication centre at the office of the National Disaster Management Institute of Mozambique, only 24 hours after they were alerted.

TSF is the first responder of the UN's Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). The ETC monitors information, including seismic reports and weather reports, to alert TSF employees via SMS texts when disaster has struck.

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Walton told silicon.com TSF's decision to go to an affected country is "a mixture of monitoring systems and experience" because different countries will be affected in different ways.

Walton added: "A 6.2 earthquake in Turkey will not have the same impact as in Japan where people are used to and equip with dealing with such a situation."

TSF uses Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) terminals to provide affected regions with internet speeds of up to 492Kbps.

Walton said TSF has to use commercial flights when travelling to an affected region and the BGAN terminals, which are a third of the weight of the previous generation of Inmarsat terminals, are easier to carry during travel and on site.

Walton added because BGAN is a global service then TSF does not have to use a variety of equipment to provide different regions with connectivity and the BGAN is flexible and expandable when TSF is working in the field.

TSF also uses Capsat Mini-M satellite phones. Walton said the charity will use Inmarsat's mobile satellite phones when they become available because the rates are cheaper than on the current devices.

The comms charity also provides longer term centres to co-ordinate aid efforts, particularly in Africa. TSF connects vulnerable regions to the BGAN, which can co-ordinate their relief efforts to make sure the appropriate amount and type of aid reaches a region at the right time.