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SECURITY HUMANITARIAN RELIEF TO INDONESIA
At dawn on September 29, 2009, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake was detected at approximately 118 miles from Apia, Samoa, generating a tsunami. About ten minutes later, waves at an estimated height of 32 feet hit American Samoa. Around 5:00 p.m. local time, another earthquake with a 7.6 magnitude was discovered just off the coast of Southern Sumatra in Indonesia; four days later, the super typhoon Parma made landfall near Luzon, Philippines. It was the second of four typhoons to hit the Philippines within a 30-day period.
At the time of the earthquake and tsunami in the Samoas, Governor Tulafono of American Samoa was in Hawaii attending a conference. He had met with Hawaii’s Governor Lingle who in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), tasked the Hawaii National Guard to deploy to American Samoa. The Hawaii National Guard put together a support package including the Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) command and control trailer. The JISCC is a communications bridge between first responders, local, state, and federal agencies, which includes a Ku-Band satellite terminal, Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) terminals, and Iridium satellite phones. The JISCC deployed in less than 24 hours.
As the Hawaii National Guard was deploying to American Samoa, the Pacific Command (PACOM) initiated the process of obtaining Ku-Band satellite bandwidth to support the mission. While there is sufficient Ku-Band over American Samoa, a solution with connectivity between American Samoa and one of the DoD teleports was needed (Wahiawa, Hawaii or Camp Robert, CA) to provide access to Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR), Defense Switch Network (DSN), commercial Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and internet services. After an exhaustive search, a satellite and beam combination that provided the necessary coverage and power was not found. Regardless, the Hawaii National Guard performed their mission with the use of BGAN, Iridium, and local services.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, the Marines were conducting training which utilized the prepositioned bandwidth contracted under the DSTS-G contract. The Marines immediately submitted Satellite Access Requests (SARs) to upgrade their mission priority from 4F (Training) to 3A (Humanitarian Support/Military Assistance to Civil Authorities). The mission priorities were upgraded and the Marines instantaneously transitioned from training to humanitarian support. They also moved one of the terminals from the Philippines to East Timor to provide support to Indonesians.
While both of these humanitarian support missions were a success, the importance of constant training and prepositioned bandwidth were most apparent in reaching the goals of the mission. As a whole, the importance of SATCOM in the accomplishment of these missions cannot be undermined.
(Posted: January, 2010)