Missions

A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Saturday 14 August. TSF deployed a team from its headquarters to provide humanitarian assistance in the affected area.

Within the framework of operational partnerships with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Télécoms Sans Frontières is the go-to organisation for providing technical expertise and training workshops on the application of emergency telecommunications in the humanitarian context.

TSF developed an information diffusion system for the protection of migrants in transit and asylum seekers in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia.

After the hurricane, the most affected cities of Jérémie and Les Cayes were deprived of contact with the outside world. TSF teams were on hand to provide the essential communications to rescue teams and residents.

TSF organised a capacity building programme to strengthen the humanitarian response system through the optimal use of technologies

Technical experts and logisticians from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Service received training in emergency telecommunications from TSF in Nairobi.

In response to the severe food crisis in northern Kenya and its neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa, TSF dispatched a team to the affected area of Dadaab in northeastern Kenya. TSF were are responsible for connecting the crisis centre for NGOs working in the region.

After almost two years of drought, the situation in northern Kenya deteriorated in the summer of 2011. TSF partnered with VSF-Germany to conduct Cash For Work activities in South Marsabit District, Turkana West, North Horr and Loyangalani. Thanks to TSF's expertise, beneficiaries were able to be paid by the M-PESA mobile payment system.

At the request of the Colombian government, a TSF team assisted the various actors in the crisis unit, including UNDAC, to help the populations by the flood at the end of December 2010. Technical support was provided in the affected areas including Atlantico and Baranquilla.

TSF trained 16 members of the national Chilean organizations ONEMI and SUBTEL on emergency telecommunications.

An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale occurred in the Maule region of Chile. As the country called for international assistance, TSF coordinated with the Chilean authorities to provide telecommunication assistance to the local and international community and populations.

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti is a humanitarian crisis that remains engraved in the memories of people across the globe. With more than 220,000 fatalities, and over 1 million people left without a roof over their heads, relief efforts were titanic. With the support of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations body (ECHO), TSF provided satellite telecommunications support for the humanitarian response community, including the government and the United Nations, whilst working to provide communications services for thousands of families.