Disaster recovery from a different standpoint - Iridium, Motorola provide communications support to disaster relief teams in South, Central America - Company Business and Marketing

Communications News, March, 1999

In Central America, disaster recovery takes on a meaning quite different from the technological one. Countries in the region are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane "Mitch" and, according to experts, will be dealing with recovery efforts for possibly 50 years to come. Joining forces in an effort to assist the countries pummeled by the storm in November of 1998, Iridium and Motorola are supplying much-needed communications support to disaster relief teams and senior government officials in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Motorola supplied 46 phones and 80 high-capacity batteries, charger units, and cigarette lighter adapters to ensure long-term usage, while Iridium provided free satellite airtime for the telephones through the end of 1998. In a matter of only weeks, over 800 phone calls had been made on the system. In an area where there was no way to make calls, the phones enabled relief operations to establish instant communication.

Meanwhile, in China, InnoWave--a subsidiary of Tadiran Telecom--donated an advanced wireless local loop system (WLL) to the Hibei Province where in November 1998 massive flooding of the Yangtze River destroyed the copper wire telecom infrastructure. In the worst flooding since 1954, more than 240 million people have been affected. The new system, InnoWave's MultiGain Wireless (MGW) system, will be installed and operated in coordination with Shanghai Bell.

Circle 264 for more information from InnoWave