Seattle Earthquake, A Ham\'s Wake up Call

kd7lzr writes...



"I was lucky as my eleven year old son was with me when the house started rumbling. Tyler thought a sudden huge windstorm had begun and I thought it was someone using heavy equipment close by but as the rumbling began to increase I knew what it was. I grabbed Tyler and yelled, "Earthquake" as we squeezed into the open front door with our three dogs at our feet; and then 30 seconds of rolling and rocking.





It's funny how your brain takes it all in because all I could think of was, how much of an idiot I was. The day I got my license I should have gotten a 2 meter rig and I had no other rigs at all. The cell phone was dead, phones were dead, electricity was out and my wife and mother-in-law were 30 miles closer to the earthquakes epicenter on the top floor of a four story building. It took 4 hours for me to find out they were OK. I was not happy.



After hearing that they were OK, I immediately went to the local Ham store and purchased a 2 meter handheld. It was a difficult drive as the traffic was bad due to a landslide that had backed up the river and avoiding the bridges as they had not been checked but we made it. Tyler and I then attempted to assist some of the neighbors who could not contact family or friends and we monitored the devastation in the worst hit areas. Tyler, who was going to take his Tech that night was even more upset over not having the ability to contact his Mom then that he would have to wait a few weeks to do the test.


When Mom came home, after we swapped stories, Tyler started immediately trying to convince her to get a license. I think he may have succeded.


Tyler and I have decided to join the AREC or RACES as we both listened to the outstanding work these and all the other Hams did during the earthquakes aftermath. As expected, the police, fire departments and Red Cross were swamped and I know that the extra help meant alot to them and alot to those families who were concerned about their loved ones. It was also a wake up call for us.



My wife thought the cellphone was a good source of emergency communications until they died during the earthquake. She was amazed to find out that many of the repeaters had emergency generators but that the cells did not. I thought I could wait for a few weeks to get my 2 meter rig and Tyler thought that the rock was solid beneath our feet. I do not believe any of us will make those same mistakes again."