Following the heavy floods which have been affecting the regions of Tete, Manica, Sofala and Zambezia for several weeks, the situation in Mozambique has deteriorated significantly over the recent days.
Laurent Simon, an AIT student in the dual degree program in Telecommunications FoS, School of Engineering and Technology, with French Institut National des Télécommunications (INT), is currently involved as a volunteer in an emergency operation with Telecom sans Fronti?res (TSF) in Mozambique.
AIT and TSF in December 2006 signed a partnership agreement and TSF office for Asia and Pacific is hosted on AIT campus.
Simon landed in the morning of 8 February 2007 in the capital Maputo and was air-lifted to Caia on the next day (9 February). Caia is one of the most affected zones where most NGO are based.
In Caia, radio communications have been set up by the World Food Programme (WFP). GSM network is available but congested and there is no landline Internet connection. TSF’s emergency crew therefore immediately opened a first Communication Centre at the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) coordinating office for UNICEF, WFP and NGOs such as Med Air and Samaritan's Purse.
Head of the mission, Simon Genin, reported that on 9 February, organizations benefited from TSF’services (80% of relief organisations working in Caia). This satellite-based Communication Centre offers broadband Internet, phone and fax lines and IT equipment enabling relief organizations to communicate right from the heart of the disaster area and send assessments in order to respond to the needs of flood victims.
Open from 8am to 9pm 7 days a week, the TSF centre notably enables aid agencies to follow the weather forecast to anticipate further water rise. Local authorities are concerned as heavy rains are expected in the coming days. Agencies are also monitoring the course of the hurricane currently heading for Madagascar and possibly Mozambique.
UNOSAT satellite imageries (both paper and digital copies) are also made available to the humanitarian community. On 9 February, more than 200MB of data had been transferred via Inmarsat BGan for a total of 27 users.
Following an assessment on 10 February, a second Communication Centre could be opened in Mutarara early this week. Due to increasing needs, TSF is preparing to deploy more IT/Telecoms emergency responders from its France-based Headquarters on Monday. With the activation of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Saturday, TSF, as First Responder will provide a common telecommunications service to both United Nations agencies and NGO during the entire emergency phase until handover to phase II. The mission is estimated to last between 15 days and 1 month.
As of 15 February, INGC estimates that approximately 86,300 people have been displaced due to the floods. An estimated 37,000 people are currently in accommodation centres and more than 49,000 are in resettlement centres that were established after the 2001 floods. INGC estimates that, in the worst-case scenario, 285,000 people may possibly be affected by the current emergency.
TSF is assessing the need for humanitarian calling operations for displaced populations with a priority to areas uncovered by GSM networks.