Disaster management, Satellite, Bangladesh: Thirty satellite terminals deployed by ITU have helped restore vital communication links in remote and underserved areas of Bangladesh, a country recently ravaged by floods. Since the start of the monsoon season this year, nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh - a delta nation of 140 million people - has been inundated with flood water, bringing death and devastation across the country.

Response efforts have been hampered by Bangladesh's damaged roads and airstrips, and her lack of telecommunications facilities. Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, outlines ITU's response: "With so many disasters affecting countries, ITU is taking all measures to be well-equipped and to respond quickly to help governments and other first responders with telecommunications resources so that they can focus on rescue and rehabilitation operations...Increasingly, countries require urgent assistance from ITU as the specialised agency of the United Nations in the area of telecommunications and information and communication technologies."

ITU pays for all expenses that include transportation of the equipment, the training to use it, and the actual usage. All terminals, which are from Thuraya Satellite, are dedicated mainly to voice communication. They are equipped with solar panels to provide an independent source of energy.

Emergency telecommunications are the key for government and humanitarian aid agencies involved in rescue operations, medical assistance and recovery. To reflect this, ITU will be hosting a "Global Forum on effective use of telecommunications/ICT for disaster management: Saving Lives" in Geneva, Switzerland from 10-12 December, 2007. A number of key innovative emergency telecommunications initiatives will be launched to ensure timely intervention of telecommunications resources before, during and after disasters. The event will bring together high government officials, CEOs of telecommunications entities, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations.

• more info: www.itu.int