Telecoms Charity Sends Emergency Communications Kit to Georgia

After 5 days of intense combats between Georgia and Russia, both countries agreed on truce on Tuesday thus facilitating access to conflict victims for aid workers. The conflict led to the displacement of dozens of thousands of people trying to flee fighting in South Ossetia, North Ossetia and Abkhazia. According to local sources, 80% of the 50,000 inhabitants of Gori, a city located only 90 kms from the Georgian capital Tbilisi have fled in fear of Russian air strikes. Many infrastructures have been damaged but Tbilisi international Airport was spared by the attacks.

Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) which has been on alert since day one of the conflict deployed an emergency crew of telecoms specialists to Georgia on Wednesday. The team left from TSFÃ's headquarters in France and landed in Tbilisi at 5pm local time on Wednesday to assess the telecoms needs of the humanitarian community and affected civilians.

TSFÃ's crew is carrying satellite communications equipment to install communication centres offering Broadband Internet access, phone and fax lines and all the necessary IT equipment for a crisis management centre. Depending on needs identified, TSF could run humanitarian calling operations so that victims of the conflict can give news to their family in the country and abroad and request personalized assistance. This direct support will depend on access to those displaced as bombings are said to continue in some areas.

Within the context of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), TSF will coordinate with the United Nations through the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and Unicef. This is the first time TSF deploys to Georgia but since its creation ten years ago TSF assisted in many conflict zones before notably in Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and more recently in Lebanon during summer 2006.

This mission which should last at least two weeks is funded by the Vodafone Group Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, Inmarsat, Eutelsat, Vizada, AT&T, Cable & Wireless and the Regional Council of Aquitaine.

On the web: Télécoms Sans Frontières

Posted to the site on 13th August 2008