engageSPARK and Nexmo Provide Emergency Communications for Typhoon Hagupit Survivors in The Philippines

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexmo, the leading cloud communications company, and engageSPARK, a not-for-profit social business that empowers non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reach populations in need, today announced that last week's SMS campaign provided communities in the path of Typhoon Hagupit with critical information in advance.

Following last year's Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,000 dead or missing in the Philippines alone, authorities launched a massive evacuation operation ahead of Typhoon Hagupit, evacuating towns and villages in coastal and flood-prone areas.

engageSPARK sent approximately 175,000 SMS messages on behalf of the global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps using Nexmo's cloud communications API to inform citizens in the path of Typhoon Hagupit what to prepare, where to evacuate, and provided emergency phone numbers. The typhoon made its first landfall last Saturday in the eastern Philippines, forcing more than 1.7 million people to flee to safety.

"Reaching a large number of people during critical moments like natural disasters with time-sensitive information can be a challenge," said Ravi Agarwal, CEO, engageSPARK. "Because our industry-leading messaging platform enables non-technical customers to easily and quickly create and implement emergency awareness campaigns via SMS and Voice, there's real impact—lives can be saved."

As a social business, all profits generated by engageSPARK are used to subsidize services to NGOs and governments, to further improve engageSPARK, and to build other tools that will improve the lives of poverty-stricken populations worldwide. Nexmo has donated the 175,000 SMS messages to help engageSPARK offset the cost of providing this emergency awareness campaign in the Philippines.

"Being a global company also means being a global neighbor, and like all good neighbors, we are compelled to help during natural disasters," said Tony Jamous, CEO of Nexmo. "Cloud communication technology isn't just driving new industries, it's providing essential information at the speed of life during times of need. We are proud to help make a difference."

About engageSPARK
engageSPARK is a not-for-profit social business that empowers development organizations such as NGOs and governments to dramatically extend the reach and impact of their pro-poor programs. engageSPARK is the first solution that enables organizations around the world to easily and quickly launch comprehensive messaging, surveying, and decision tree programs focused on developing countries via SMS and Voice calls to send key information and collect important data from anyone with access to a mobile phone. http://www.engagespark.com/

About Nexmo
Nexmo provides innovative communication APIs that bridge traditional voice and text services with cloud communications. Nexmo enables applications and enterprises to make phone calls or send and receive text messages with ease to improve user experiences, no matter where in the world customers are located. High-volume communication companies such as Alibaba, Airbnb, Line and Viber send millions of messages per month using Nexmo APIs.

Nexmo was named to the 2014 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, the 2014 Hottest Companies in San Francisco by Lead411, and was recognized by analyst firm Gartner as a 2014 Cool Vendor in Communication Services. www.nexmo.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/engagespark-and-nexmo-provide-emergency-communications-for-typhoon-hagupit-survivors-in-the-philippines-300009070.html

SOURCE Nexmo

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