ZAMBIA: Mobile phones to the rescue

Satellite communication equipment including phones have arrived in Zambia to help several thousand flood-affected people access aid in time.

More than 250,000 Zambians, most of them in the Kafue river catchment area in central Zambia have been affected by floods, said Dominiciano Mulenga, co-ordinator of the government's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU). "Heavy rains which began in December 2007 have caused the water to rise in the river, then we were forced to release some water in the [Itezhi-Tezhi] dam, which has caused excessive flooding," he explained.

Heavy rainfall is also expected over the coming weeks in Zambia's Northern, North-Western and Copperbelt provinces.

"Communication is critical in some of the areas which have been cut off by floods for several days," said Mulenga. Twenty-five Thuraya hand-held sets satellite phones and mobile Immarsat Global Area terminals or devices which offer voice, fax and data services will be given to identified officials or community leaders to help coordinate rescue and relief efforts.

The DMMU intends to dispatch a couple of devices to two islands on the Kafue River this week. "Residents on the two islands might need to be evacuated - we need to keep in touch with the community," explained Mulenga. The rest of the equipment is likely to be distributed in 40 camps set up in the Kafue river catchment area to help officials and the community to keep in touch with the disaster management unit.

The satellite devices have been provided by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body, free of charge for countries affected by disasters for a three-month period.

"The terminals [satellite devices] can also provide accurate positioning coordinates to help coordinate rescue," said Cosmos Zavazava, chief of ITU’s emergency telecommunications division. ITU launched its service during the 2004 tsunami. Last year the union helped out people affected by floods in Bangladesh and Uganda.