SATCOM Relief
Friday, 05 March 2010 16:23
The company’s dynamic support of urban search and rescue operations and ongoing recovery efforts continue today. For more than 30 years, Inmarsat’s global satellite constellations have enabled the company to reliably respond to disasters while continuing to provide global communications services at sea and in the air. After the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near Port au Prince, Inmarsat drew on its experience about traffic requirements in previous disaster responses. By monitoring its 24/7 operations centers, Inmarsat continues to adapt and optimize the network in order to provide critical satellite communications capacity and network solutions to government and first-response agencies.
The emergency response situation on the island of Haiti created unprecedented demand for Inmarsat's services in the region. In the first week of the response, Inmarsat was able to support a rapid increase in government first-responder and non-governmental organization (NGO) usage by providing more than 150 percent more bandwidth than typically used in Haiti. These organizations needed Inmarsat’s network and services to replace their usual cellular communications that were not fully operable. Once the critical communications and power began to function again during the second week after the disaster, these organizations still needed the Inmarsat network for data and Internet communications. The company’s I-4 satellites and its global network adapted well to this change in usage.
U.S. government Inmarsat users, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard, Navy, Military Sealift Command and other governmental agencies have all played critical roles in the Haiti response. From the USS Comfort hospital ship, U.S. disaster experts have assisted with the coordination of a wide range of NGO-government activity, using BGAN for many of their critical communications needs as medical teams went ashore. The USS Comfort and the Naval Postgraduate School’s Hastily Formed Networks Division deployed with BGAN terminals to assist medical teams as well as search and rescue operations.
Other governments and organizations also provided essential search and rescue support. A European Union team from Belgium used BGAN for its activities. The Canada Department of National Defence, another long-time Inmarsat customer, dispatched several Canadian Navy ships with relief teams and supplies, and several other Navies responded to the disaster as well. Inmarsat also sponsored Telecom Sans Frontieres (TSF), an NGO that provides first-in communications support and humanitarian calling. TSF established a Wi-Fi hub in Haiti that supported a range of government and NGO communications requirements in the first days after the earthquake. TSF also provided Inmarsat BGAN terminals to the Haitian president and prime minister, as well as the national police, to restore essential government communications. ♦
