Hams provide emergency communications

Hams provide emergency communications

Typhoon Bopha (local name Pablo) has hit the Philippines uprooting trees, downing power lines, sparking landslides and making 40,000 people head for shelters.

It was the strongest of about 20 typhoons to affect the country this year with its heavy rain and wind gusting up to 210km/h as it came ashore at Mindanao.

The Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA) had its ham emergency radio operations (HERO) working when the typhoon struck the southern Philippines.

PARA is using all available means of communication like HF radio (7.095 MHz) VHF radio (144.740 MHz), the internet and social media (Facebook, email, echolink) to monitor the situation and give updates to all concerned.

Ham emergency radio operators have been assisting in the communication needs of these cities (as reported by DW5JMJ, DU5AOK and DU8BGA).

RADNET 5, a local club of amateur radio operators in Tacloban City, is very active in helping provide the city with vital communications link.

It is in constant coordination with the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC). So far, 5,700 families have been evacuated from Saint Bernard.
RADNET 5 is also assisting the Red Cross in Tacloban and Saint Bernard. The City Government of Tacloban City has used the Tacloban Convention Centre as one of its evacuation centres.

The casualties have been minimal, due to preparations, the cooperation of evacuees and the mammoth response and recovery efforts.

JJim Linton VK3PC
Chair of the IARU Region 3, Disaster Communications Committee, with
Eddie Valdez DU1EV
PARA Chief Operating Officer






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"WAY too bad" the same exposure for the amateur radio service can NOT be proclaimed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Don't start with me folks. I just returned home from a month of disaster relief on coastal NJ. (NON-Fema, NON-Insurance Adjuster, and NON ham radio related) Amateur Radio "Emergency Preparedness" is and was not a part of the relief effort in the effected area.

(GASP!)

I'll tell ya'll exactly where you can stick all your collective D-Star and EMCOMM bologna!

 

K6ZIZ - Might you tell us what you personally saw or heard that prompts you to make your statements? Chuck, from California.

 

Its probably what he didnt see or hear ...

 

I'll tell ya'll exactly where you can stick all your collective D-Star and EMCOMM bologna! to quote NU4R....

I have felt that way for about the last ten years. Its best to just leave them all alone and hope they show you the same courtesy.

 

NU4R, could it be that in all the confusion of the storm, government forgot to include amateur radio in emergency preparedness? Do you know if ham radio amateurs offered to help? I would sure hope they did and if this occurred then shame on our government and "Emergency Preparedness" for not including their valuable services.


As it turned out, many many people complained that they were not able to reach the right authorities to get the desperate help they needed. By any chance did you try to get this communication going? Just wondering.

I am a new ham radio operator and even I understand the importance of communication in disaster situations. Seems like something went wrong on the east coast.

 

"Emergency preparedness" is something you do before it's needed, during the "confusion of the storm".

Hams are not first responders and are not equipped or trained or physically capable of rescuing people from "desperate" situations, although it can happen in ad-hoc manner sometimes. If they are in the planning at all, they are behind the scenes dealing with non-life-threatening support tasks, such as Red Cross shelters or staffing a backup radio at some emergency operations center. We won't have a clear idea of the extent of ham involvement in Sandy until ARRL puts an article in a QST.

But it is unlikely that you're going to see pictures of Ham Heroes with HTs and orange vests with ARRL logos crotch deep in flood water in 80 mph winds surrounded by flames, holding babies and leading survivors to high ground, if that's what you're expecting.

Also, remember that ARRL requested hams do not "self deploy" into the area, meaning that if they were not already part of a planned response, they should not just show up uninvited.

Is it possible that some hams were included in the response plans, but then didn't show up? Maybe their own homes got destroyed and they had to look after the safety of their own families first.

Is it possible that they were not included in various jurisdiction's planning at all? Of course it is. Not all professional emergency agencies want amateurs around. It's called amateur radio for a reason. Or, it could be that local ham groups never made the extra effort to work with the emergency agencies. It takes some committment to do that, and few hams are capable of or interested in putting in that effort.

If you do NOT see a ham at a disaster site, that does not mean that hams were not involved or that there was a failure.

 

That should of course be " . . . NOT during the confusion of the storm. "

 

Could not have said all that better myself! One other comment on "emergency preparedness",...my employer apparently does not believe in such a thing as they feel that a disaster drill of any kind is not needed,...I have already asked about it and the Safety Director on day shift says it's not going to happen as far as having an emergency preparedness(disaster drill)is concerned. That might have been slightly off the topic,but I just wanted to throw that in. They also believe amateur radio is not needed for emergency communications since they have their "back up' phone systems should something happen,and truck drivers have CB to call law enforcement officials,etc. Good luck with that so-called "back up" phone system should we have an F5 tornado,bad ice storm,etc. that would bring down phone lines,disrupt cell tower operation,etc. Yes,CB could work,..but it's range is limited since CB is only allowed four watts transmit power. Back to the main topic,...again,what you have said is correct,though! Just my five cents worth!

 

Just because we are labled as "Amateur Operator's" does not mean we have to behave like an "Amateur". I was in NJ for 5 weels asstisting with Sandy victims, I was not there as a Amateur Radio Operator because I had another job. But let me tell you this I don't know exactly what B.E.A.R.S. was doing, but I know they were keeping their repeaters up and working for use by ANYONE that was providing assistance to the folks in NJ and NY.

I would like to think we all train and practice so that we are ready, willing and able to provide assistance when the chips are down. So, amateurs we are not. Some like to call volunteer fire fighters amateurs, but guess what, I have been one for 32 years and I would put my skills up against any paid firefighter, not that any paid firefighter is below me because we all have the same job, the same goal... "Save Lives, Save Nature and Save Property" (not in that order either).

Everyone have a wonderful holiday!

Ron