Tactivate assissting Team Rubicon during typhoon Haiyan philippines
What has already transpired in the few hours since I posted about heading to the Philippians to respond to Typhoon Haiyan is a tangible example of the next generation disaster response paradigm and a direct reflection of the power of our generation. Twenty and thirty something’s from tech backgrounds in San Francisco to mining operations in the Philippians have reached out to me and a robust response initiative has already begun to form. No large organization, no major media spends just friends connecting friends.
Todd from San Francisco has shipped a satellite BGAN terminal and a few HAM radios. Carlo, a Babson Alumni in Manila has offered in country flight logistics planning in conjunction with his mining operations response team. Brooklyn Boulders , the climbing gym project I am currently working on has supported my impromptu departure. Steve, who chairs the Humanitarian and disaster response arm of the Global VSAT Forum has provided valuable situation reports as to the current state of affairs on the ground.
The plan as it stands: Finalize procurement of satellite communications equipment and bandwidth, as the major focus of the response will be to work on establishing communication in the more remote and affected areas and get to the airport. My flight is currently slated for Tuesday but if I am capable of securing the comms equipment I need prior I will leave as soon as possible. From Manila I will travel on military transport or allocated private plane to Tacloban one of the hardest hit cities. From their I will assess where the needs are greatest and will most likely set out for Samar or Leyte where I will work with local teams and other organizations to augment their medical response and communication capacity.
Team Rubicon is deploying to Tacloban and will be working with Mammoth Medical Missions. I will assist their operations in any way I am able should they request it.