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Disaster Response - Haïti 2010

When a catastrophic earthquake struck Haïti on January 12th, 2010, one of our iDirect V-Sat system was flown to the disaster zone by jet on January 16th, as part of a joint effort between Québecor, Xplornet, Kusat and Reporters Sans Frontières. The system was used for emergency relief effort during the weeks that followed the earthquake. It is still in service today to provide reliable voice and data communications between Haïti's independent press and the outside World.

iDirect V-Sat loaded aboard Jet Plane
Our V-Sat system along with other equipment is loaded on a jet in Montréal

Jet takeoff with V-Sat system
The Jet takes off a few hours later, destination: Santo Domingo

Haiti Earthquake V-Sat System RSF
Upon arrival in Santo Domingo, the equipment is loaded on a pick-up truck
and driven to Haiti's capital since its airport is still out of service.

RSF Headquarters in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
RSF manages to locate a suitable location to setup its offices in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Right next door, the remains of a house that did not survive the earthquake.

V-Sat installation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (back of iDirect system)
Our iDirect V-Sat antenna is installed by Vidéotron techs following our step by step guidance.

V-Sat system with 3-Watt BUC, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
The antenna is pointed to Telstar 14 located at 63°W Longitude

RSF, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

The press center's core consists of a few laptops with video-conferencing capability and an IP phone.
There are 20 other computers and two telephone lines in an adjacent room for journalists.


HughesNet System in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

A HughesNet 1.20m Ku-band system, provided by Xplornet and Kusat was also installed for Web connectivity.


HughesNet and iDirect V-Sat systems, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Months after the earthquake, both systems are still in place and are being used daily on
our standard business plans to bridge Port-au-Prince journalists with the rest of the World.


iDirect system for NGO use during disaster relief in Haiti

We stock iDirect systems in our own warehouse and can provide turnkey systems within
short notice (12 hours) to almost any location in North America,the Caribbean and Central America.