Whether it is a hurricane (Katrina/Rita), tsunami (Indonesia/Chile), earthquake (Pakistan/Haiti), or a forest fire (California), satellites are the communications medium that can be counted on in an emergency. And this same infrastructure can be used for a range of tasks during the follow-on disaster recovery effort. 

Satellite communications (SATCOM) are ideally suited to deal with the unknown aspects of any disaster:

• SATCOM is completely independent of the local infrastructure


• While radio is limited to little more than area voice communications, mobile satellite service (MSS) or fixed satellite service (FSS) can provide connections to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) as well as the Internet, and can carry voice, data, and video traffic.


• SATCOM is both interoperable with other forms of communications and has global reach

Intelsat General offers equipment and service to support the three general types of disaster response and recovery.  

Emergency Response

The role of satellite communications in emergency response is:

• providing communications while first responders are assessing a situation


• giving first responders the ability to call in immediate medical care and restore order


• providing sustained operations using solar power for battery

Disaster Recovery (DR)/Relief

This is typically a more prolonged effort (1-6 months or more). While the Emergency Responders are first on the scene, DR personnel are typically there for the duration of the recovery efforts. The initial goals of DR include supporting efforts to provide:

• food/water


• shelter


• public safety


• communications in and out of the affected region


• public health and welfare


• reconstruction


• financial aid

DR and Relief efforts often require the use of very small satellite terminals (VSATs) and FSS due to higher volumes of voice and data traffic.  

Continuity of Operations (COOP)

COOP relies on an infrastructure that is put in place in advance, in anticipation of a loss of communications in a disaster. This could be satellite equipment installed at a specific location, or it could be a trailer-mounted VSAT to be deployed to an affected location on short notice. 

In the event of any loss of service, a well-designed COOP capability will immediate restore communications to specific facilities or organizations.

In assessing the response to Katrina, emergency managers found that businesses and organizations which could restore communications within the first couple of weeks of a disaster had a significantly better chance of recovering from the disaster than those which were unable to communicate. This experience indicates that regardless of the approach, communications assurance should be part of every organization’s emergency planning.

Intelsat General has networks in place to support ER, DR, and COOP. We can install communications services immediately, or we can tailor a solution to suit the customer’s needs and budget. 

Coverage Maps

• Ku-band coverage in CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico on Horizons-1

• Ku-band coverage in CONUS on Horizons-2

• X-band coverage in South America, Europe, Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East on Skynet 5C

• X-band coverage in Africa, E/W, Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, Southwest and Southeast Asia, and Indonesia on Skynet 5C