YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea - U.S. Forces Korea has taken measures to conserve network bandwidth to support on-going humanitarian relief operations in Japan.
American military units are assisting Japanese authorities in their humanitarian relief efforts following the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck there March 11.
In a March 13 Sharp Point message, the top American military commander in Korea said U.S. Forces Korea has blocked access to social media sites and non-military Web sites.
U.S. Forces Korea has also directed all network users to only send mission essential e-mail attachments and to limit those attachments to three megabytes.
"These measures are necessary to ensure we have sufficient bandwidth available for mission essential communications," said Gen. Walter L. Sharp, commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea. "Although on-peninsula communications are operating normally, I am restricting the use of many capabilities we have become accustomed to so we can use available bandwidth for emergency response."
Sharp said the restrictions could remain in place for weeks.
"We must treat bandwidth as a finite, mission-essential resource," said Sharp. "We will do our part to help the people of Japan during their recovery from this tragedy."
Related Links:
Gates authorizes humanitarian funds for Japan, voluntary evacuation of Honshu families
DoD: Special Report on the 2011 Japan Eathquake
Social Sharing