RESPONSE ACTIVITIES & CONSTRAINTS
Prior to the 25 April and 12 May earthquakes, the humanitarian community in Nepal had been developing contingencies and pre-positioning supplies including emergency telecommunications equipment for a possible earthquake in the Kathmandu Valley. As a result of these preparedness initiatives, the Cluster was able to quickly mobilise to respond.
As a common service to support the overall humanitarian response, the Cluster is providing shared internet connectivity services in 13 sites across three common operating areas in Gorkha (Gorkha District), Chautara (Sindhupalchowk District) and Charikot (Dolakha District).
Over 1,319 users from more than 140 humanitarian organisations have registered to use services provided by the Cluster. Dedicated ETC teams have been deployed acrossthe most affected areas of the earthquake in Nepal with responders from emergency.lu, Ericsson Response,
NetHope, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the World Food Programme and local partners.
The Cluster works closely with national internet and mobile service providers to ensure fast delivery of communication services to humanitarian partners.
During the monsoon season it is expected that accessibility to ETC sites and potential disruption of its telecommunication services will hamper the ongoing response.
As part of the ETC’s objectives, the Cluster is building local capacity to ensure the sustainability of its deployed services and solutions in Nepal. With a focus on preparedness, the ETC is developing a full report based on the outcome of the ICT emergency response workshop held together with the Ministry of Information & Communications in June. From this, the ETC will help to develop an operational plan that will be implemented in response to future emergencies.