Following the delivery of a new Rapid Deployment Kit from emergency.lu in April, Ericsson Response has sent a mission to South Sudan to help the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) integrate the equipment with its own WIDER (Wireless LAN in Disaster and Emergency Response) technology. The WIDER technology was originally deployed in Renk in January 2012 as part of emergency.lu's Regular Deployment Kit.

Both WIDER and the Rapid Deployment Kit are key components of the ETC response solution which was jointly developed by Ericsson Response, emergency.lu and the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide rapid voice and data connectivity in emergencies. The two pieces of equipment only need to be configured once; after that the solution can be deployed anywhere. It is currently providing voice and data connectivity to humanitarian workers in the WFP and United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) compounds in Bor, Jonglei State; an area covering approximately 1,000m².

These are vital services in a region in which humanitarian workers are responding to victims of intermittent violence between armed actors in Pibor County. To date, tens of thousands of people have been affected by the recent hostilities.

After configuring the WIDER equipment, Ericsson Response Emergency Telecommunications Responders Juan Mariscal and Michael Hanrahan provided installation and maintenance training to two ETC staff members in Juba.

"The training will ensure that all the resources are in place to provide rapid communications in emergency situations, leading to a more coordinated response," says Michael. "The whole mission has been an incredible experience."