Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: Telecoms Without Borders, connectivity emergency workers
People stand near body bags as they wait for news of their relatives, near the rubble of collapsed buildings in Hatay on February 13, 2023. AFP - BULENT KILIC
Text by: Dominique Desaunay Follow
3 mins
For 25 years, the association Télécoms sans frontières has been providing emergency connectivity to populations affected by war or natural disasters and to humanitarian organizations responsible for helping them.
It is therefore present in Turkey and Syria, where an earthquake caused the death of more than 35,000 people.
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Following the disaster of a natural disaster, terrestrial telecom infrastructures can be damaged or completely destroyed, and when it is still functional, the mobile network is then quickly saturated by an abnormally high number of calls or SMS.
Most of the time after a major earthquake, local operators also find themselves faced with power cuts, severely limiting all communications, whether internet or traditional telephony.
This is why TSF, which is supported by numerous organizations in the telecoms industry and in coordination with the United Nations, intervened urgently just after the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria.
► To read also: Earthquake in Turkey: in Adiyaman, devastated city, "we let people die before our eyes"
The association is currently focusing its action in the regions of southern
Turkey
and northern
Syria
by providing connectivity support to emergency workers who have been dispatched to hard-to-reach disaster areas.
But its mission is also to provide emergency facilities broadcasting internet and mobile telephony so that people can contact distant members of their family in order to reassure them, explains Emmanuel Jean, communication manager at TSF.
“
We are deploying portable satellite means that allow us to establish a temporary network such as a Wifi network, for example.
And this emergency connectivity is very important for people who have been affected by the disaster to have the possibility of contacting a loved one after an event as traumatic as this devastating earthquake
,” adds Mr. Jean.
Today, TSF installed satellite equipment in #Antakya (#Hatay) to restore #connectivity in response to the #TurkeyEarthquake #depremhatay pic.twitter.com/hyhEZfRZou
– Telecoms Without Borders (TSF) (@TSF_Intl) February 10, 2023
War in Syria
And as the association is mobilized in the same way during wars, it has been involved in Syria since 2012. For example, it acts alongside the UOSSM, the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, "which already has on the
spot satellite equipment in certain medical centers
", in order to "
strengthen the communication systems by delivering them, for example, additional minutes on their satellite lines
", concluded the manager.
And so this project, which was supported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, has since 2012 enabled 15 medical teams to use digital forms on tablets to collect medical data from each patient.
This valuable information, which was then centralized in a database thanks to internet connections installed by TSF in hospitals and clinics in the region, now facilitates the work of first aiders.
This connectivity at the heart of the emergency also gives the possibility of re-establishing this essential link of life between the survivors and their families who have until now been without news of their loved ones.
► To read also: Turkey: in Antioch, French rescuers in search of survivors
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