MAF Opens Critically Important Satellite Communications Center, Facilitating Work of Relief Agencies Hampered by Loss of Local Telecommunications Networks
MAF Pilots Resume Flights since Devastating Quake; Bringing Aid to Coastal City of Jacmel
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) missionaries have set up a Port-au-Prince airport communications center connected to the GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups that have arrived since the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake.
Huntsville, Ala.-based GATR Technologies donated the use of both the GATR system and communications center, which is located at the offices of World Concern, a relief agency operating out of the airport. Dedicated phone lines are providing telephone service for the relief agencies, empowering them to distribute emergency supplies to the millions affected by the quake. The center also allows wireless communications, Skype, voice-over-Internet protocol and e-mail.
"The earthquake destroyed the country's infrastructure, and communication problems have so hampered relief efforts," said MAF President John Boyd. "The GATR satellite and communications center is greatly facilitating the distribution of aid to the injured, homeless and suffering in Haiti.
"Logistics and coordination that MAF is providing to the emergency relief effort is crucial to saving lives, especially in these early days following the Haiti earthquake and later as rebuilding begins," Boyd said.
For the first time since the earthquake struck, MAF pilots in Haiti have resumed flights using the ministry's three aircraft. MAF's relief flights are primarily to Jacmel, a coastal city of 40,000 southwest of Port-au-Prince, where initial assessments estimate that at least 350 were killed and 60 percent of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. MAF flights bring desperately needed relief supplies to Jacmel and return to Port-au-Prince with internationals that had been working in Haiti before the earthquake and are evacuating the country.
The United States Air Force, which controls the Port-au-Prince airport, is sending all humanitarian cargo flights to the MAF hangar there. MAF is helping planes refuel and clear cargo through Haitian customs, as well as unload the cargo into the MAF hangar, ready for distribution.
MAF missionaries' homes sustained little damage and are housing relief workers from many agencies. Other MAF and relief staff are sleeping on cots in the ministry's hangar. Cargo shipping containers are serving as offices.
Founded in the U.S. in 1945, MAF (www.maf.org) missionary teams of aviation, communications, technology and education specialists overcome barriers in remote areas, transform lives and build God's Kingdom by enabling the work of more than 1,000 organizations in isolated areas of the world. With its fleet of 55 bush aircraft—including the new KODIAK—MAF serves in 31 countries, with an average of 101 flights daily across Africa, Asia, Eurasia and Latin America. MAF pilots transport missionaries, medical personnel, medicines and relief supplies, as well as conduct thousands of emergency medical evacuations in remote areas. MAF also provides
Incorporated in 2004, GATR Technologies (www.gatr.com) provides deployable satellite solutions, including a patented inflatable antenna, advanced material research and development, and custom engineering services to military, broadcast and public safety markets.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Nicole Aptekar @ 909-851-0326
naptekar@inchristcommunications.com
Published on: 2010-01-20
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