No Portable Satcom in Haiti? How are They? What do They Need?

Watching CNN’s cover­age of the devas­tat­ing 7.0 earth­quake that hit Haiti early this evening, I found myself gasping at the thought that key relief agencies and media outlets still find themselves strug­gling to commu­ni­cate years after Katrina and 9/11.

The Miami Herald was not Connected

When asked in the early hours after the quake hit, on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” what The Miami Herald knew of the devel­op­ing situa­tion, their Carribean corre­spon­dent Jacquie Charles essen­tially said they didn’t know because they couldn’t connect with anyone there.

“Well, we’re still trying to get through because all the commu­ni­ca­tions is down … We have people en route to Haiti right now and we also have a ‘stringer’ on the ground, but because the commu­ni­ca­tions are all down, we cannot get through to anyone at this moment.”

Blitzer responded with, “That’s the problem. Communications are really hard. It’s almost impos­si­ble, in fact, to estab­lish communications…”

The Red Cross was not Connected

The Red Cross there had no way to commu­ni­cate off the island (as of 6:45 PM Eastern). CNN reporter Deborah Feyerick reported that the Red Cross had three people in the Port au Prince area, but:

“[American Red Cross officials in the U.S.] cannot get in touch with them. They’re trying both the landlines obviously … I asked about cell phones. They’re looking into that right now.”

Why is this Still Happening?

Why? Why — after so much time has passed since 9/11, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Katrina — that the media and key relief agencies still find themselves scratch­ing their heads trying to commu­ni­cate in times of crisis? How can anyone possi­bly know how people are doing and what they need if we have no way to connect with them?

Did CNN think to ask the Red Cross why they didn’t have a satel­lite commu­ni­ca­tion backup for a time like this? Is it break­ing news somehow that landlines fail and cell service dies when a disas­ter strikes?

Did you know that portable satel­lite commu­ni­ca­tions solutions exist today for expressly these circum­stances?  Not only do they provide voice services when all other networks fail — but also Internet access — so the media and relief agencies can report on the situa­tion and call for help. And some (such as OODAkits) also come with multi­ple ways to access power (includ­ing solar), because power is usually the first to go.

We are in the process of trying to help as we speak!