Hi Nick Sure, please add me to the list. I'm ready to assist in any way I can.
Thanks Indiver On Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 12:12 AM Nick Ashton-Hart <nash...@consensus.pro> wrote: > + Indiver > > Dear Bill, > > I've certainly experienced that dynamic before. I'm very glad to hear that > families are all OK. I only wish it were true for everyone, and it is great > that PCH has released staff to help out - very much in the Nepali spirit I > might add! > > In this instance, Im not in Nepal right now, and so I won't be telling > anyone what they need or anything of the sort. Nor would I be doing any of > that if I were there. > > I'm helping OCHA get access to a pool of people with a variety of skills - > especially at the moment in 'telecom triage' but I'm sure it will rapidly > expand beyond that. This is a grassroots thing with the list mostly coming > from Nepalis referred by NGOs in digital policy and ISOC chapters. > Microsoft's country director is helping in large part due to his > connections with universities' tech programmes but in typical Nepali > fashion also personally. > > Indiver, if you would like to be added to the gdoc where the list is kept, > directly introduced to the chap at OCHA who is helping the teams on the > ground with all this, or both, let me know, I'm happy to do either or both. > > FWIW, the list currently has two PCH people who have put themselves > forward: Dibya Khatiwada and Rustan Shrestha. The more the merrier! > > On 27 Apr 2015, at 20:12, Bill Woodcock <wo...@pch.net> wrote: > > > > >> On Apr 27, 2015, at 5:53 AM, Yosem Companys <compa...@stanford.edu> > wrote: > >> From: Nick Ashton-Hart <nash...@consensus.pro> via > bestb...@lists.bestbits.net > >> If you, or someone you know, has hands-on ICTs and especially telecom > infrastructure experience and is presently in Nepal can you let me know > offlist? > >> I'm trying to help emergency teams in country gain access to in-country > expertise. > > > > One of our larger offices is in Kathmandu. Our staff and their families > are all accounted for and okay, so we’ve released and funded them to do > relief work. Presumably they’ll principally be doing ICT-related work, and > presumably that will be coordinated through the ICT industry association. > The current secretary of the industry association is Indiver Badal < > i...@indiver.com>, who was PCH’s peering coordinator for several years. > > > > One issue we’ve observed many times when doing relief work, perhaps > worst in the 2004 tsunami, the 2003 conflict in the Congo, and 2010 in > Haiti, is that areas with modest ICT infrastructure that was adequate to > the sustainable needs of their market, are swamped by aid workers with > immodest expectations. i.e. a desire to video-chat with their families > every day, play WoW, and download video porn. So they all show up, and > declare “repairing the Internet infrastructure” (to levels never before > seen) to be their first priority. They run rough-shod over the local > infrastructure operators, step on carefully-regulated or > carefully-negotiated frequency allocations, etc. > > > > I very much hope we won’t have to deal with that in this case. Nepal’s > ICT environment is mature, its professionals are expert, and its community > is well connected. If and when they need help, they’re perfectly capable > of indicating what help they need, and anyone from the outside who believes > they know better is WRONG. So, if you’re interested in helping, by all > means, make your availability known to Indiver or any of the many other ICT > professionals in-country, but please don’t assume that you know what’s > needed, or worse, that they don’t. > > > > -Bill > > > > > > > > > >
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