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ITU supports humanitarian health efforts in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan
Emergency telecommunications equipment donated to World Health Organization
and Philippines government crisis response units
Geneva, 20 November 2013 – ITU is providing satellite
terminals for both voice and high-speed data to the World Health Organization
(WHO) to support its humanitarian work in the Philippines’ Typhoon Haiyan
crisis.
ITU has supplied 40 Thuraya satellite phones to facilitate health relief
efforts in the worst-affected parts of the country. “At a time when the
Philippines is recovering from the Haiyan crisis, relief efforts by UN
humanitarian agencies are much needed to assist victims in the affected towns
and villages,” ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré said. “ITU is working
with WHO to provide the emergency telecommunication equipment that is vital for
coordinating response operations in disaster-affected communities.”
Dr Richard Brennan, WHO Director of Emergency Risk Management and
Humanitarian Response, expressed his gratitude to ITU for its rapid assistance
to fill a major resource gap in the health sector’s response to the crisis.
“These satellite phones will be of tremendous benefit to our humanitarian
operations in support of the Philippine Ministry of Health, as well as WHO and
its partners, helping us gather and manage information for disease surveillance,
early warning systems and sectoral coordination.”
“We take our humanitarian work very seriously,” said Brahima Sanou, Director
of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. “In dire situations such as the
one in the Philippines, ITU stands ready to support UN agencies in their
humanitarian effort to assist people caught up in such disasters, especially
those who have been afflicted by illness and those who have been displaced from
their homes.”
ITU is also deploying an additional 50 satellite phones, including 25 Iridium
Sat Phones, 10 Thuraya Sat Phones and 15 Inmarsat BGAN units, and is also
deploying 25 laptops to help people re-establish contact with their family
members in other cities of the Philippines and abroad.
ITU regularly deploys emergency telecommunications across the globe in
response to earthquakes, cyclones, floods, and other natural disasters. This
latest assistance follows
an earlier deployment of equipment and personnel in the
immediate aftermath of typhoon Haiyan.
For more information, please contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information
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