Through Fulcrum Community, we’ve been working with the team from NetHope to support their needs in responding to disasters around the world. In their work, they help first-responders in humanitarian crises around the world with connectivity and communications when it’s knocked out — cellular coverage, phone communications, and internet access.

This week they’re hosting an event in the hills of central California, mocking up a disaster scenario to experiment in how relief organizations can embrace technology and collaborate with one another.

The DRT event is conducted over a five-day period with trainers from CiscoTacOps, emergency.lu, Ericsson Response, Facebook, and Redline Communications. The first three days of each module focus on theory and practical hands-on training on NH deployed network, P2P, power, VSAT, mobile SatCom and TVWS solutions.

The participants from Google, Facebook, AWS, and Team Rubicon all go through the classroom training and are then deployed to operate in a 48-hour emergency Simulated Exercise (SIMEX). Participants employ NetHope’s mobilization procedures as in a “real-life” emergency to determine how well they can apply the recently learned technical skills in the field while submerged in austere living conditions.

Joe is out there from our team to give the rundown on how Fulcrum can be deployed in disaster environments, as we’ve helped with dozens of times around the world. It’s cool to see this engagement with our tech for such positive work.