The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) has not been activated in response to Hurricane Matthew. As global lead of the ETC, the World Food Programme (WFP) is convening the Haiti ICT Working Group, collaborating with government, private sector and humanitarian partners on the ground to ensure a coordinated response. 

This post has been translated from the original article in French. For the full Bulletin, see: CONATEL Bulletin d'information post Matthew numéro1

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster held its first local meeting on 11 October 2016 at the MINUSTAH Headquarters in Port-au-Prince. The meeting aimed at assessing and discussing the plan in place to respond to the destruction of telecommunications infrastructure in the south (Nippes and Grand’Anse) following the impact of the Hurricane Matthew. 

Meeting participants shared their field intervention and efforts put in place to face the catastrophe. To date, communication restoration is well on his way and mobile network operations have mobilized their team which is a relief for affected populations in these regions as well as for the aid organizations operating there. 

CONATEL is fully integrated into national and regional response mechanisms to disasters. During the meeting, Jean Marie Altema, General Director, had clearly announced the steps taken to provide its organization competencies and experience to serve the response community mobilized for this crisis (government and NGO), and to also enable efficient coordination of local structures in the field of emergency telecommunications. 

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster is a network of global organizations, comprised of UN agencies, humanitarian institutions and telecommunications operators that work in synergy in order to provide emergency communications services in case of catastrophe.