Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) is using BGAN to strengthen Nicaragua’s national disaster prevention network after the devastation caused by Hurricane Felix.
In collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Inmarsat-sponsored agency is involved in a two-month project to reinforce Nicaragua’s disaster prevention, mitigation and attention system – Sinapred.
The work is funded by the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department and aims to increase Sinapred’s ability to rapidly deploy communications in emergencies.
Satellite solutions
Under the project, BGAN terminals are being installed in remote parts of northern Nicaragua where no traditional communications exist.
A TSF spokesman said: "We are going beyond our official role for the UN and will be training Sinapred on how to use satellite-based solutions. "We will be able to apply the experience we had in Haiti in 2004 when we trained the Red Cross for a similar purpose."
Initially at least three BGAN terminals will be deployed.
Food crisis
TSF says the assistance was also inspired by its work in Niger, in West Africa, where Inmarsat RBGAN terminals have been deployed to strengthen the country’s national food crisis prevention system, aiding more than 700,000 people.
The North Atlantic autonomous region of Nicaragua was severely affected by Hurricane Felix when it struck at the end of August, claiming about 130 lives.
Source: Inmarsat