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Disaster Recovery For Haiti's Cell Phone Networks
spun writes "A disaster recovery team from Trilogy International Partners, LLC was among the first responders to arrive after the quake in Haiti. After seeing to the safety of their staff, they worked quickly to bring up emergency generators and restore service to the devastated country. Winners of a State Department medal for their previous work in Haiti, the company appears to be a model not only for proper disaster recovery response, but also for ethical corporate behavior. Their quick action has no doubt saved thousands of lives, but Haiti still needs our help." Keith Calder, who used to work on Slashdot ad stuff before we had big corporate owners, is now a film producer of last summer's Battle for Terra. They are giving away signed copies of the DVD to the first 100 people who make $25+ red cross donations. It would be cool to see generous Slashdot Sci-Fi fans make a difference. If you are curious or voyeuristic about the devastation, Google Maps has satellite photos.
Alternately, they could donate the DVDs to the devestated people of Haiti, skipping the middlemen entirely!
Too soon?
Frosty piss
I wrote a journal entry earlier today about some of what the organization I work for is doing in Haiti. There are a lot of others in play too and some great ways to help. Hopefully after this stops being the story of the hour, the assistance will continue so that country can come out of this with some kind of up side to it all.
The Navy is on the way and as a former sailor I'm pretty proud to see them rushing to help as they so often do. Helicopters are going to be key for quite a while I think.
We'll see the world step up in a big way here I think, and once again we'll see one of the nicer sides of America and how this country can be very generous in times of crisis - not just our government but in the direct giving and participation of the citizenry.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
"Caribbean mobile operator Digicel Group Ltd. said Wednesday that its network in Haiti is still providing domestic and international phone service after a major earthquake devastated the country."
Digicel have also gotten their network in Haiti back working again. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100113-709435.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
Battle for Terra came out in 2007, hardly last summer.
Speaking of Battle for Terra, did anyone else think Avatar was a rip-off of Battle for Terra? Humans try to destroy nature-loving aliens, only to fail, despite over-whelming firepower?
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
In order to have disaster recovery for an infrastructure, you must, in first place, have had this infrastructure in place before the disaster. I didn't know that there was a cellphone network in Haiti BEFORE the disaster... Otherwise, it's not DR, it's INSTALLATION.
The reports indicate that Hatia has received significant financial support from the international community in the past. The reports indicate that the government has not used this money wisely, i.e. to develop infrastructure and insure safety. The reports indicate that money existed to make at least some building and some private dwelling safe, but such a thing was never done. We had people paying for modern building that would survive anything but earthquakes. At least the resources should have been put into place to make building that did not immediately kill the occupants. I understand that money was not widely available, and Hatia barely has a government, but I think we can take some lessons on what the minimum responsibility of a government must be from this example.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
sry already pirated it ill save my 25 bucks for popcorn and soda
Devastating...
Haiti has nearly no land lines. Cell phone networks are cheaper to deploy than land lines. If you had bothered to read the summary, you would have read that this company was down there before the earthquake, and had won a medal from the State Department for their work building communications infrastructure in Haiti.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Obama was heard to remark "Heck of a job, Triley".
I haven't seen Avatar yet, but battle for Terra was really good in a way that I doubt Avatar was:
***** SPOILER ALERT for Battle of Terra and Saving Private Ryan (??)*****
The Terrans (aliens) actually have advanced technology, but the Humans still wipe the floor with them after an initial hard fought battle. The swinging trees don't beat the storm troopers on Terra.
The stakes are extinction for both sides, so when characters you've grown to like have to kill each other, you believe their motives. Lots of movies have made me sense the evils of war by showing me its affects on those who fought and those just caught up in it. Battle for Terra is the first I've seen where the evilness hits home during the thrill ride that is on screen sci-fi combat.
There's a scene in "Saving Private Ryan" where a wall collapses. An American squad and a German squad find themselves suddenly face to face with each other. As an action scene, it's as tense as anything on film. But imagine the emotional impact if Spielberg had spent the previous hour getting you to know and like both squads. This is what Battle for Terra achieves and then some.
For what seemed like a kids movie at first, Battle for Terra didn't pull many punches.
*********** end spoiler *************
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http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/14/11290/?nc=1
Where are the hams, the famous emergency prepared folks that interfere with my electronics and keep us from deploying broadband over power lines, who have huge ranges of valuable spectrum set aside for their use in disasters such as this? Oh that's right, they're NOT HELPING because THEY can't do anything without ELECTRICITY! So much for all that disaster BS! Not ONE news outlet mentioned anything about ham radio helping this disaster in any way shape or form! Where's all the generators and bullshit, you lying assholes? Where's all the field day crap? NOWHERE!
This should prove to everyone beyond a shadow of a doubt how worthless the ham radio is and why we should shut it down and force all those luddites into the modern era.
What about an air-droppable military grade (i.e., MIL-STD) device with a generator/battery/solar power source that sets up a cellular phone hot spot, and can link with the national carrier?
There are plenty of technical hurdles to overcome, but if they're recoverable and 'inexpesive' enough to deploy on a one-to-two week bases. It would allow for rapid dissemination of communication signals across a disaster area while the more permanent infrastructure is brought back online.
Based on the media I have seen, Haiti's cell and land line phone infrastructure went down as well as all their other media with the exception of many Internet Protocol connections. Almost all the communications we are seeing in the media are internet media.
It reminds me of the old joke that the whole airplane should be made of the same material as the black box recorder. What is the difference between their Internet infrastructure and all their other communications? Maybe they ought to rebuild their new communications in the same way?
I just posted, immediately before you up above, the link to the arrl coverage. They gave freqs for monitoring, and some contact has been established via batteries with hams in haiti, and they had updates on other forms of emergency support which is ongoing. US HAMS..uhh..they are HERE not in Haiti you moron.. How the heck are us based people supposed to help out over there besides monitoring and relaying any info they might receive? They are very good HERE where they live, they have solar power, charged batteries, generators, etc, but that only works HERE where their stuff is, capeche? Haiti is poor, and it has just been wiped out, it has collapsed, heck, there are probably any number of radio operator there now who can't communicate because they are freaking dead, inside collapsed buildings. Or if alive, maybe their equipment got smashed and is still under rubble, who knows. HAM gear is expensive, no one expects the poorest nation this side of the globe to have as many radio hobbyists as there are in the US or wealthier western nations. Their equivalent of the freekin whitehouse is partially collapsed. A lot of smashed stuff, get it?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
My brother pilots a DC-3 for Missionary Flights International out of Fort Pierce, Florida, and recently posted this status update on Facebook:
Many people have been asking how to help with the relief work in Haiti...we've been directing people to the MFI website www.missionaryflights.org The website gives a donation needs list as well as an online donation link for a Disaster Relief fund. We flew to Haiti with relief supplies today and I get to go tomorrow...
The relevant link is here, but it looks like supply donations have to be dropped off locally, so that may only make sense for people who live in the area. I'm sure monetary donations would be happily accepted from everyone, though, regardless of where you live!
Checkout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti
And a few of the external links.
This has been a man made disaster for 200 years. We should also respond to the man made act as well.
40 sat terminals are being established, along with 60 broadband terminals, from the ITU. A lot of stuff has to be moved in, because so much was destroyed
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2010/02.html
I was looking at various pics of the destruction, and it is trite and often used, but it looks like a major giant airforce just carpet bombed the place.
I have never been there, but based on other articles I have read about real poor areas with cellphones, a lot of the people depend on charging kiosks / local services to recharge their phones, because domestic electricity is so rare. I would imagine most of those facilities are now smashed as well.
varia7ions on the writing is on the
"We have a relationship with one organization, Batay Ouvriye, and are putting our resources and time into helping Batay Ouvriye to help rebuild from the catastrophe and maintain the struggle for a better Haiti and a better world. Batay Ouvriye is a combative grassroots worker and peasant?s organization in Haiti with workers organized all over Haiti, especially in the Industrial sweatshops and Free Trade Zones. We have set up a means to send money to Batay Ourviye. If others wish to send money to Batay Ouvriye, please email miamiautonomyandsolidarity@yahoo.com
The Batay Ouvriye Haiti Solidarity Network is calling on all Progressives to join us in the aftermath of the Earthquake Disaster to help us organize support for the various Workers” Unions, Peasant Associations, Toilers’ Associations in the Batay Ouvriye Movement in Haiti."
http://miamiautonomyandsolidarity.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/call-for-solidarity-and-funds-for-the-working-people-of-haiti/
More info on the Batay Ouvriye from the Industrial Workers of the World trip: http://iwwinhaiti.blogspot.com/2008/04/blog-post.html
Do you have any facts that back up the assertion that they've saved thousands of lives? Seems to be a pretty dramatic statement. No doubt that having proper communications infrastructure will help to save lives, but to assert that it has already happened seems silly.
"[Doctors Without Borders] has already treated more than 1,000 people on the ground in Haiti following Tuesday's earthquake, but the needs are huge. An inflatable hospital with operating theatres is expected to arrive in the next 24 hours." https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/
The reason Haiti is in the shithole is because it's been occupied and abused by foreign powers. We've been involved since the end of the 19th Century, when legendary Marine Smedley Butler, in his own words, "was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism... I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in."
Haiti was occupied by the United States from 1915-1934. Since then, marines have been sent to Haiti numerous times. The CIA played both sides of Duvalier while his paramilitary force, the Tonton Macoute, assassinated dissidents and anyone who dared oppose Papa Doc. In a final embarrassment to the Haitian people and to the very idea of democracy itself, the Bush Administration sent the Marines to help finalize the coup in 2004 by kidnapping Aristide and sending him to Africa, once again throwing the nation into chaos.
It's good that the US Government is assisting the Haitian people during the disaster, and I never discount the generosity of the American public. Just don't be surprised if they don't treat us like friends.
A new book on the subject, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment by Peter Hallward, scrupulously documents the events leading up to February 29, 2004, and concludes that what occurred during the "rebellion" was in fact a modern coup d'état, financed and orchestrated by forces allied with the US government. Hallward provides extensive documentation for his claims in interviews he has given on the subject. -Wikipedia
I'm sure a lot of people don't realize just how culpable we are in Haiti's misery. We can't change the past, but we can do better in the future.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
"Yo, Haiti, I'm hella sad for you, and Ima let you finish, but Indonesia had one of the worst disasters of all time. Of all time!" --Kanye West
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
"what-the-world-needs-now" is better than the "twist-and-shout" attached to the Chinese earthquake. "Funny-not-appropriate" can be used as well.
subspace, I forwarded your comments on to the other filmmakers. It's really wonderful to see such a thoughtful response and analysis of one's creative work.
I'm sorry to say this.
It is very positive to help Haiti, and they really really need it.
But even though I'm going to look like an A-hole, I must say that the USA always expects something in return.
"There is no such thing as a free meal"
Earlier I was watching Israel make a big deal about 200 people they're sending to help. Every little helps but for me that's them trying to regain some support on the international scene after a few recent "mistakes".
I'm glad to see help arrive in Haiti, but I'm just wondering if we'll ever help people just to help them. Not to buy their vote in the UN.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Haven't seen Battle for Terra, but from your description, it had a much deeper plot than Avatar.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Hey, thanks for making a great movie, and for being some kind of Slashdot founder, too.
I've got to say that marketing may have been insufficient. I first heard about the movie only last week through the previews extra of the new Wallace and Grommit.
Play Command HQ online
Also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAtEIL0upWs from http://www.videosift.com/video/Haiti-Earthquake-View-From-The-Ground ... :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Is that why satellite maps show a divided island. The Dominican Republic prosperous while Haiti denuded? Why didn't we destroy the Dominican Republic, a nation literally a drive away?
I haven't seen Avatar yet, but I know it is the greatest film ever made.
Makes about as much sense.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Oooh you got me, I totally forgot that I hadn't seen the movie when I wrote that I hadn't seen the movie.
What's more, I regret that I did not explicitly inform you that my doubts are based on the well known plot of Avatar, not on how much the movie sucks in my imagination, but feel free to always assume the stupidest interpretation anytime anyone writes something.
Play Command HQ online
Why is giving away for free something of value (I assume) "ethical behavior"? Is charging a fee for work performed "unethical"?
Is Capitalism Good for the Poor?