Iran

A major earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale hit the ancient city of Bam, about 1000 kilometers south-east of Tehran, during the early hours of December 26, 2003. More than 30,000 people were killed, an estimated 30,000 injured and 75,000 made homeless.

Once the extent of the disaster was understood, the authorities of Iran expressed the need for international assistance, including emergency communication in the disaster area. Answering the call, Ericsson Response volunteers and colleagues at Ericsson Turkey and Ericsson Iran worked around the clock to send and install an emergency GSM system. This system was connected via satellite to Turkish operator Turkcell's network.

• Ericsson Iran kept the contacts with local authorities and conveyed the request for assistance to Turkey
• Ericsson Iran assisted TSF (Telecom Sans Frontiers) communication team, one of the first on site
• An emergency GSM system, available in Turkey, was instantantly loaded into a chartered transport plane. A project team, manned by Ericsson Turkey and Ericsson Iran volunteers and lead by the Ericsson Response coordinator in Turkey, made the system operational within 24 hours after its arrival to Bam. Technical Staff from Ericsson Iran was responsible for the operation of the system in cooperation with Turkcell engineers
• Sony Ericsson Turkey supplied 150 A3618 phones and Ericsson Response also donated 240 R250 mobile phones
• Ericsson Response kept the contacts and coordinated activities with IFRC(International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies), SRSA (Swedish Rescue Services Agency) and other relief organizations
  

• Turkish GSM operator Turkcell
• Satellite operator Superonline
• Transmission company Elkotek