According to their website, Telecoms Sans Frontiers (TSF) has sent a team, Wednesday, to the Libyan border with Tunisia to provide telecommunications support to refugees escaping the violence.
Civilians wait to be processed and interviewed after fleeing to Tunisia to escape the violence in Libya
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) predicts a massive flood of population at the Libyan borders in the coming days. On Monday, Feb  21,  3,500 people went through the borders. By the following day, there were more than 10,000.
Tunisians have fled the country in hundreds, followed by several refugees from Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Eritrea, Somalia, Chad and the Palestinian territories, and by the first Libyan civilians. Much of the foreign nationals have already left the country.
TSF uses mostly satellite equipment, including the Inmarsat BGan, the Mini M, and VSAT. More information on the technology used can be found here.
The following video explains their work:

There are 22 days left to submit proposals for innovative ways to address disaster recovery for the World Reconstruction Conference (May 10-13 2011  in Geneva).  Winners will be invited to the conference.  All qualified entries will be invited to submit a poster presentation of their idea.

From the website:

“The focus of the competition is on innovation in services, products and approaches that have been implemented at the local level in disaster recovery and reconstruction. The aim is to:

  • showcase innovative and new solutions developed in the wake of disasters;
  • develop awareness for their use in other and future recovery operations;
  • provide a space to build partnerships to address key challenges in scaling up and replicating.

“Sectors of interest include but are not limited to: housing, water and sanitation, education, health, energy, transportation, information and communication technology (ICT), monitoring and evaluation, environment, governance and institutional strengthening.”

Let’s get some ICT proposals out there.

The Philippines is one of the most phone-savvy countries in the world, but it’s also prone to violent storms and conflict, which force people from their homes and threaten them with hunger.

In emergencies like these, WFP often helps by setting up “Cash for Work” projects that help uprooted communities get back on their feet. With the cash people earn as they work on rebuilding homes and communities, they can buy the food they need.
Now, in the texting capital of the world, WFP is testing mobile phones as a way of distributing the cash.

“It’s like a digital wallet—almost like a bank account,” said WFP Country Director Stephen Anderson, who explained that giving participants cash in the place of food rations allows them to buy a wider variety of food in a way that favours the local economy.“

Our survey shows that they are spending up to 70–80 per cent of the cash on food,” he added. “We think that’s a good thing.”

This article from the Guardian posted by Jemima Kiss discusses the miraculous efforts of Google and their humanitarian efforts in Haiti.  After the earthquake, they cultivated detailed maps showing the impact of the earthquake and then even helped develop a person finder tool

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