Second, work underway. At 8 AM, April 14, MIIT launched the Contingency Plan for Emergency Telecommunications Enablement and established immediately quake relief schemes. Frontline and backline commanding offices were set up in a swift manner and as provided by the contingency plan, systems such as 24-hour work-shifts and information reporting every 4 hours had been established. All telecom enablement efforts were made according to unified deployment of the State Council. MIIT's dispatched Director General of the Bureau of Telecommunication Administration to Qinghai Province also immediately accompanied Qinghai provincial governor to the hit areas for commanding telecom resumption. Despite unfavorable conditions such as high altitude, constant aftershocks, severe cold and lack of oxygen, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom called upon their guarantee teams urgently from neighboring provinces including Gansu, Shannxi, Tibet, Sichuan and Ningxia and prepared their emergency telecom equipment to recover disrupted services in areas hit by the quake. As of 7 AM, April 19, the three carriers dispatched rescue personnel totaling 908 and provided 82 vehicles for emergency telecommunication, 132 satellite phones (among which 60 were directly allocated by MIIT), 369 oil-fueled generators and 47 pieces of other emergency telecom equipment.

Third, recovery of telecom services. As of 7 AM, April 19, telecommunications had been resumed in 6 Counties under the Prefecture and 45 townships could communicate by at least one means including satellite phone. A total of 234 satellite phones were being used with 6,445 times of calls and 19,467 minutes of usage, serving as an effective approach to maintaining contact during the relief. Fixed and mobile telecom services had been resumed in 5 villages out of the 8 townships under the severely-hit Yushu Prefecture and only the rest 3 were communicating with satellite phones. With joint efforts of all parties concerned, telecom links were the first to be reconnected in the area, accomplishing the requirement made by Vice Premier Hui Liangyu of resuming emergency telecom services within 24 hours and laying a solid foundation for leading earthquake relief efforts.

Fourth, guaranteed services for public good and telecommunications in all respects. Enterprises have been active in providing guaranteed telecommunication to local governments, military forces, armed police, public security and other agencies concerned and also offered services for public convenience. People can use their phones even with overdue bills and are provided with voice services to look for family members. 73.43 million free SMS have been sent to inform the public of self-rescue approaches in earthquakes. A satellite corporation under China Telecom has sent an aerial shooting team (with 15 people and 4 sets of unmanned crafts and facilities) to support steering groups for disaster relief with telemetry data and related materials; China Mobile has launched 10086 service in Tibetan-Mandarin languages and set up phone booths for "making free calls to tell you are in safety"; and China Unicom launched websites and hotlines for people to find their family members and report related feedbacks to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other disaster relief agencies.

II. Radio Service Enablement

MIIT immediately contacted CAAC for information on radio frequency usage and protection demands of airports in the devastated area and required Qinghai Radio Management office, under the leadership of provincial commission and government, to organize professionals and allocate equipment for frequency coordination and allocation for emergency command in quake relief, secure smooth radio command scheduling and enhance protective radio monitoring and interference inspection and settlement. Priorities lie in guaranteeing private frequency for airports and airways and important departments such as Public Security and Armed Police and in normal frequency usage for public mobile communication. Up to date, radio enablement for disaster relief, communication, commanding and aviation services is in good condition. In particular, frequencies are coordinated between military and civil aviation usage to ensure safe air transportation.

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