31 August 2018: Doctors treating victims of the recent earthquakes on the Indonesian island of Lombok used Global Xpress (GX) to help coordinate emergency medical aid.

Inmarsat-sponsored Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) deployed with Inmarsat satellite communications equipment immediately after a 6.9 magnitude quake and a series of violent aftershocks caused devastation in the north of the island earlier this month.

Working with local partner Airputih, the TSF team set up mobile calling operations using IsatPhone 2 satellite phones in three of the worst affected areas, giving people the chance to let loved ones overseas know they were safe and request financial assistance.

Medical supplies

TSF also supported another Indonesian NGO in setting up a medical coordination centre. GX’s high-speed, reliable connectivity allowed doctors who had managed to reach isolated communities to report back on what medical response and supplies were needed, and arrange hospital care for the badly injured. Other aid agencies responding to the disaster also used the satellite internet access to coordinate the relief effort.

Latest reports put the death toll at nearly 450 with more than 1,000 people wounded and 400,000 displaced.