In early October, the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) installed wireless internet connectivity for humanitarian organizations operating at two of the largest camps in Iraq: Domiz camp outside Dohuk city and Arbat camp outside Sulaymaniyah city.

Both camps are key to humanitarian operations in Iraq. Across the country there are 5.2 million people in need, 1.9 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 225,000 Syrian refugees. Of the refugees, 98,000 are in Dohuk, where Domiz camp is based, and 24,000 are in Sulaymaniyah where Arbat camp is based.

Given the scale of operations, access to the internet is essential.

"It's critical to have a reliable internet system as a lot of our work is based on reporting," says Tom O'Reilly, Security Officer for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) at Domiz camp. "If the internet goes down, sending reports or even sending missions to Erbil becomes impossible. We're also planning on using the internet to transmit our security camera images from the registration centre to the office. It would mean we could monitor security more effectively."

In both locations, an ETC team, consisting of staff from the World Food Programme's (WFP) Fast IT and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST) and Ericsson Response, extended a 4 MB internet connection from the cities to the camps via microwave link. It was then distributed wirelessly throughout the camps using the ETC Response Solution; a joint venture between Ericsson Response, emergency.lu and the World Food Programme (WFP). The Solution also makes the networks much easier to manage as it facilitates the registration of users.

"The ETC network really helps us very much," says Marco Rotunno, the Camp Manager at Arbat camp for the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
There are currently around 4,000 refugees at Arbat camp, but more are arriving every day. Just two weeks ago over 1,000 arrived from the besieged town of Kobane in Syria. IRC provides protection and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services for the refugees, as well as coordinating the activities of other organizations.

"We need a clear picture of the situation in the camp," says Marco. "We use tablets for refugee verification, to take a census of new arrivals and to capture data on families. Right now, we need to know how they will cope with the onset of winter."

Internet connectivity, he says, is vital for this work. "Before we had internet connectivity we had to come back to the office in the afternoon or at weekends to process data from the tablets. Now we can do it all from the camp itself; it will change how we work a lot. It saves time and effort."

Due to the rapidly evolving situation on the ground, the number of refugees and IDPs in Iraq is expected to increase substantially. The ETC will conduct continuous assessments in all key operational areas in order to ensure that all humanitarian ICT requirements are fulfilled as and when they are needed.

To contact the ETC in Iraq, email: Iraq.ETC@wfp.org