31 May 2017: Inmarsat-sponsored emergency communications agency Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) supported disaster preparedness in South East Asia with an intensive training week for first responders.

As a partner of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), TSF was invited to train the Association of South-East Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) humanitarian assistance emergency response and assessment teams in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

ASEAN, which has 10 nation members, promotes economic growth in the region and works alongside the UN to strengthen humanitarian assistance and boost disaster relief.

Connectivity backbone

The week-long session focused on all aspects of emergency response, from the instant a disaster alert is received to aid organisations’ withdrawal from the affected country.

TSF experts trained 32 participants in using Inmarsat BGAN terminals and IsatPhone Pro satellite phones as the connectivity backbone of critical joint operations and coordination centres.

The skills acquired were consolidated during a two-day simulation exercise.