DERNIERES INFOS
TSF assists aid workers and supports the Mexican population

aidesecours

26th September, 2013


TSF supports aid workers and the Mexican population

 

Since late last week, storms have inundated vast areas of Mexico, destroying infrastructure and triggering landslides which have affected over 100,000 people and more than 100 deaths. Télécoms Sans Frontières was contacted last Friday (20/09/2013) by the Mexican Red Cross to carry out an evaluation of the telecom situation. After discussions with collaborators on the ground, a team of TSF’s telecommunication experts arrived early on Sunday morning in Acapulco.

 

With the floods and landslides having destroyed the majority of roads and bridges, many of the villages affected by the disaster are difficult to access. TSF and the Mexican Red Cross are thus working in close collaboration to ensure the most thorough evaluation will be carried out in order to bring an effective solution to the thousands touched by this disaster.

 

Since Sunday 22nd September, Télécoms Sans Frontières has been working in the most isolated areas of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. Following three long and hopeless days, one inhabitant of this remote community shares her experience with her brother:

 

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“Everybody thought we were dead. Even the army believed there were no survivors. We had no help at all. It was only when a military helicopter passed overhead and we waved it down that people realised that we were still alive. Thanks to TSF, our community has been able to make calls to their families and let them know that we are still living.”


 

 

 

As soon as TSF arrived in Mexico, its team started working with the Mexican government and the Mexican Red Cross. Within the framework of its support to the Mexican Red Cross, Télécoms Sans Frontières is operating in collaboration with its numerous emergency aid workers in the field along with its aerial surveillance search and rescue team. TSF has provided satellite telephones to the Red Cross teams so that they can organise their actions in this area where isolation and the stark lack of basic communication capacities hinder all humanitarian coordination. 

 

callingfemmeBeyond providing satellite equipment to support Mexican rescue teams, TSF is endeavouring to bring direct assistance to the most affected communities in Mexico’s mountainous areas. These zones are difficult to access by road – even more so in the aftermath of the cyclone.


Thanks to the support provided by TSF, several humanitarian aid workers are able to correspond with one another and coordinate their actions in order to provide the most effective aid to the thousands of people affected by this disaster.