Télécoms Sans Frontières deploys in Georgia
Emergency Communication Centers facilitate coordination & communication
A few hours only after having landed in Tbilisi on 16 August, Télécoms Sans Frontières began its first humanitarian calling operations to enable Georgians displaced by the conflict to give news to their relatives.
Already more than 200 families who fled the bombings in South Ossetia and Gori were offered the possibility to call a friend or family. These operations are taking place in Emergency Communication Centers set up in camps at Tbilisi airport or in schools around the capital. TSF staff relies on a range of satellite services provided by Vizada to equip the Centers – these include Inmarsat BGAN and Mini-M, as well as Thuraya handsets.
Many families from South Ossetia have been separated, some members having fled South to Tbilisi and others North to North Ossetia. These calls are therefore facilitating family reunion and providing support to families who have been displaced and left without news of relatives for more than 10 days.
TSF is coordinating with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, according to whom more than 118,000 people have been displaced since the start of the conflict on August 7.
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