"Mobile network in a suitcase" helps Typhoon Pablo refugees The portable network will allow relatives to communicate and mean aid agencies will be able to carry out life-saving emergency work, the Vodafone Foundation claimed. Typhoon Pablo hit on December 4, flattening buildings and damaging infrastructure. The 100kg network is carried in three suitcases and operational within 40 minutes. It will initially be used in the municipality of Baganga, where relief agencies have set up an operations base. The GSM network will offer an operating radius of up to 5km and has previously been used during severe droughts in Kaikor, Northern Kenya, but this is the first time it is being used in an emergency disaster situation. The so-called "Instant Network" has been developed by Vodafone in collaboration with Huawei and is being deployed in partnership with emergency communications specialist Télécoms Sans Frontières and Smart Communications, who have also provided 30 mobile phones. The use in Kaikor in February helped assist with relief efforts and the delivery of food. Over the 47 days of the deployment, 264,104 calls were made over Instant Network, including almost 12,000 free minutes used by aid agencies and humanitarian calling centres for those people without access to a phone. Sebastien Latouille, the ICT manager and head of mission in the Philippines for Télécoms Sans Frontières, said the organisation had been working in Davao Oriental, where communications have not been available for the last seven days. "The deployment of the Vodafone Instant Network will provide connectivity back in the area, greatly enhancing the relief work efficiency and enabling the displaced families to get in touch with their loved ones," he said. Andrew Dunnett, Director of the Vodafone Foundation, said: "Providing mobile communications in a disaster situation enables aid agencies to work faster and more effectively, helps reunite families and saves lives."