During a disaster, one of the more important things that needs to be restored quickly is communications. This is to provide status updates, direct emergency personnel on where they need to go, and so on. However, in more remote parts of the world, this could be an issue due to the lack of an underlying infrastructure.
This is why we’re seeing companies such as Alphabet, Facebook, and SpaceX attempt to create internet solution that can be broadcasted to all corners of the Earth. In fact, in a perfect example of how these solutions are being used, Alphabet has recently deployed some of their Loon balloons following an earthquake in Peru.
The earthquake took place last Sunday and according to Alphabet, they managed to deploy their Loon balloons in just 48 hours. With the balloons, it allowed the company to bring LTE to the area, thus helping to restore communications during the entire process. As Alphabet notes, this is not the first time that they have responded to natural disasters.
The company had previously also used its Loon balloons during a flooding in northern Peru. According to Alphabet, “As Loon has evolved, we’ve come to better understand our ability to respond in disaster scenarios.” We imagine that it might be a while before we start to see greater commercialization of the tech, but for now, it looks promising.