Haiti hurricane relief supported by SES

SES will support Haiti hurricane relief by providing connectivity services in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

Communication services offered by emergency.lu, in which SES is a partner, provide connectivity to humanitarian responders in Haiti. They are being deployed in close collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) as global lead of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC).

The emergency.lu terminals use dedicated SES satellite capacity to re-establish vital communication links in order to improve the effectiveness of rapid response efforts. The connection is provided through inflatable antenna and a terminal and the capacity used is C band from SES-6.

One rapid deployment kit is already on the ground and operational, while a regular deployment kit will be deployed shortly.

“When a natural disaster such as the hurricane in Haiti strikes, infrastructure is badly damaged or destroyed completely. Communication networks are overloaded by people sourcing help and information or trying to contact relatives,” said Gerhard Bethscheider, managing director of SES Techcom Services.

“Satellite is the only infrastructure which enables communication networks to be restored quickly, facilitating the rollout of coordinated humanitarian assistance and aid.”

Emergency.lu is a public-private partnership between the Luxembourg government and three Luxembourg-based companies. These companies, SES Techcom Services, HITEC Luxembourg and Luxembourg Air Ambulance, design and operate the platform.

The category 4 hurricane hit southwest Haiti on 4 October. It was the strongest hurricane in Haiti since 1964, with wind velocity of over 235 km/h. The hurricane left hundreds dead and thousands of homes destroyed.