Emergency.lu

On 18 December 2020, Franz Fayot, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, HITEC Luxembourg, SES Techcom and Luxembourg Air Ambulance signed an agreement to continue the ‘emergency.lu’ programme until 2026.

A targeted solution which is in much demand among humanitarian agencies during major disasters and crises, emergency.lu will continue to provide ICT services to humanitarian agencies, residents and governments in the countries affected. Innovative and at the cutting edge of technology, the new version of the platform will be more efficient, flexible and scalable.

Since January 2012, in support of humanitarian organisations, the Ministry has deployed telecommunications systems across the world, namely in the Bahamas, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Haiti, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Martin, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Syria, Vanuatu and Venezuela. In close collaboration with the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS), emergency.lu’s operational partner, 40 volunteers from the group responsible for humanitarian missions were sent to disaster sites to install and operate the systems.

During 2020, Luxembourg’s humanitarian action provided services to humanitarian organisations in the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Venezuela and in Syria, at the request of the World Food Programme (WFP), the ETC (Emergency Telecommunications Cluster), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNICEF. In December 2020, three terminals were sent to Sudan against the backdrop of the crisis in the Tigray region.