It is kind of funny that now we are recognized as a disaster satellite communications organization. First, our mission is to bring a little peace of mind to survivors by giving them their right to communicate with their loved ones. Secondly, N2NGO is my amateur radio callsign which is how this all started after Maria hit Puerto Rico. This past weekend was the ARRL’s DX… Read More »Satellite is not the only way, there is still ham radio!
Euro company EccoHealth was established this year by a group of private investors with interests in medicine and hospitality. EH is investing in hospitals in the Caribbean and has chosen N2NGO as the sole consultant to implement their disaster communications protocol. This is a great triumph for founder Carlos Chiossone after spearheading the first Caribbean Disaster Congress, a conference that happened in Washington DC in… Read More »N2NGO chosen by EccoHealth NA to provide Satellite Solutions
After a highly successful conference in DC speaking about emerging NGOs and Disaster Communications, a new avenue of fundraising opened to us. I gave my approach to how disaster communications should be approached post-disaster, and now a Caribbean government and a health organization representing 8 hospitals in 3 islands have requested that we share our experience with them. The approach allows for much lower costs… Read More »And now Consulting
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love summer, what I don’t love is the bugs that come along with it. So what do we do when we are in an area infested by mosquitoes? we avoid them at any cost, they can spread disease faster than most people realize. I am not talking about those little backyard pests that can also carry diseases, I am… Read More »Summer is an Itch!
Getting some shuteye is hugely important along with drinking water and getting some calories in your body. In a disaster, where you sleep changes as time progresses. The first groups on the ground usually have it the hardest, but in many cases are also welcomed by locals. If a response is within the continental USA then likely we will arrive by car or van which… Read More »The Gear – Sleeping
READ IT OUT LOUD! The most important part of your gear is water filtration! If you don’t have good water filtration you can get sick within hours of your arrival. If you are a first responder you will not find the Red Cross, FEMA or the alike distributing bottles of water. You will have to bring your own and likely it will soon run out,… Read More »The Gear – Water
There are a few pieces of gear that we must have in order for our mission to be successful, one of course is the sat phone. When I started to look into sat phones and satellite internet access I found a company out of the UK, Inmarsat. Their satellite technology is probably the best available for business and consumers but it is extremely costly, specially… Read More »The Gear – Satellite Phone
I keep being asked how large are the disaster response and disaster technology industries. For many years people not involved in disaster only knew about Red Cross or Salvation Army, even if there were a large amount of organizations that went to a disaster zone to aid survivors. And I am not mentioning government ones here. Just google “disaster response organizations” and besides the common… Read More »The Disaster Response Industry 101
This is likely the one tool I get more emails about, close second is flashlights. Remember a few years back, OK more than a few, when Leatherman was the tool everyone needed to have. It had and has a great knife, little saw, scissors in some, etc. Letherman became a household name for a multi-tool, and today I barely hear the name anymore. What ever… Read More »The Gear – Cutting Tools
I really hope you read The Gear – Water post. But just in the event that you were stupid enough, sorry but have to categorize it that way, to forget clean water, here are a few tips. Before leaving for a deployment, read on how to find water in different places in the world, specially if you know where you are going. In places where… Read More »Shit! I forgot water.