News Room
Ground-breaking texting application created for Haiti now set for global deployment
February 10, 2011
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian organization, and Trilogy International Partners, a wireless telecommunications company specialized in emerging markets, have teamed up to form an exciting new partnership whose vision is to empower and improve the lives of people affected by disasters.
At its heart is a truly innovative and user-friendly mobile phone application - dubbed TERA (Trilogy Emergency Relief Application) that allows aid agencies and mobile phone users in disaster areas to interact and listen in real time. Unlike traditional SMS services, which require broadcast messages to be delivered to every subscriber on a carrier’s network, TERA allows the IFRC to specify the area – a particular region or even a neighbourhood – to which text messages will be sent to mobile phones. By targeting recipients precisely, the IFRC can craft messages with highly topical and relevant information. Consequently, TERA text messages elicit exceptional response rates from mobile phone users in need of aid, giving them an effective voice on how assistance should be delivered.
Trilogy developed TERA for its Haitian subsidiary, Voilà, in response to a request from the IFRC immediately after the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. Now Trilogy is granting the IFRC a free license to deploy TERA throughout the world.
“Our joint vision is to capitalize on the widespread use of mobile devices and especially SMS (text messaging) around the world so the humanitarian community can better partner with people affected by disasters,” says Bekele Geleta, Secretary General of IFRC.
“What we are managing to achieve with Trilogy International empowers communities by delivering life-saving information into the hands of those who need it most. It is about enabling disaster-affected communities to fully participate and partner with aid agencies, thereby increasing the speed, relevance and effectiveness of aid.”
Although in its infancy the TERA system has already shown great results. It provided early warning last September and October to more than half a million people in the vulnerable areas on Haiti’s northeast coast. The hotline - operated by volunteers from the Haitian Red Cross - received an impressive 710,000 calls during that particular early warning operation. The SMS system is also being used for public health promotion campaigns and cholera prevention, reaching vast numbers of people who may otherwise not receive such critical information.
