Photos: Tech reconnects earthquake victims

"We didn't ask ourselves any questions when we saw the scale of the earthquake. It was 7.9 and we knew there would be problems which were confirmed when we were on the plane," says TSF's Oisin Walton, discussing the lead-up to the organisation's decision to fly to Pisco following the earthquake there on Wednesday 15 August.

Within hours, five of TSF's France-based staff were on their way to Peru's capital Lima, where they would then travel overland to Pisco to be joined by volunteers from one of the organisation's regional bases in Nicaragua.

The team's first task was to set up a communications centre that would allow rescue workers to co-ordinate their efforts, to care for the victims who could be found and search for those buried under the rubble of Pisco. The next stage of any emergency response is to widen the scope of the communications centre to allow civilians — such as Ms Hernandez — to contact relatives.