January 3, 2005
Telecom charity forges links for tsunami victims
As early images of the Asian tsunami disaster were flashed around the world, an aircraft loaded with equipment touched down in Sri Lanka at Colombo international airport.
Within minutes, technicians had set up an emergency telecommunications centre with satellite phone lines and high-speed internet connections. Relief organisations were quick to avail themselves of the service. Satellite lines were made available to hospitals and to link survivors with the outside world.
The initiative was the work of Télécoms sans Frontières (TSF), a new charity backed by companies including Vodafone, Cable & Wireless and Inmarsat.
The organisation has only six full-time paid members. The rest of the 20-strong crew is made up of volunteers from every sector of industry. When disaster strikes, they aim to be in the affected regions within 24 to 48 hours.[via The Times Online]
Related:
-- Links to all Tsunami/cell phone stories posted in Textually.org.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2005/01/006620.htm
