The attention
of almost every country in the world is focused on Haïti after the major
earthquake which struck on January 12th.
As early as January 15th,
France mobilised its forces. Two humanitarian aid aircraft were dispatched to Haïti.
The Red Helmet Foundation, created by former minister Nicole Guedj, sent a
first "Emergesat" satellite telecommunications container in the
aircraft chartered by the Dept. of Foreign Affairs. This 600 kg container can
be deployed in one hour to enable hundreds of people, within a radius of one
kilometer of the container, to communicate with each other and with the rest of
the world.
Developed by CNES and Thales Alenia Space, Emergesat also has several essential
applications which can be used by the emergency aid teams from the moment they
arrive on site: water analysis tools and a telemedecine kit to allow NGOs to
assess the situation and to provide emergency aid to victims of the
catastrophe.
Another fully medically
equipped "Emergesat" container, used by the Samu (Emergency Medical
Services) in French Guiana, shall also be sent to Haïti to reinforce the intervention
capacity of the medical teams.
About Emergesat
The Emergesat container is a technological telecommunications tool developed to meet needs in crisis situations to provide: overall information on the crisis situation, assistance in co-ordinating and monitoring the action taken, humanitarian assistance services (health, population movements, etc)
- Voice telephony over IP between personnel in the field and to any given correspondent on the mobile or fixed public network,
- VHF communications, both local and interconnected to telephony (same function as a telephone),
- High speed access to Internet for downloading and exchanging medical data (photos, videos, ultrasounds, patient files), videoconferencing and document sharing...
In addition to the functions establishing telecommunications networks (high-speed two-way satellite link, VHF, Wifi), the PSMA (Advanced Emergency Medical Station – Poste de Secours Médical Avancé) contains several essential items of medical equipment such as a telemedecine kit that can receive an ECG (electrocardiogram), patient oximetry and blood pressure, a microscope for analyses, a mobile ultrasonograph, a mini medical laboratory, a mini weather station and Geiger counters.