Indiana Ham Radio Volunteers Assisting in Wake of Killer Tornado:

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QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 26 ARLB026
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT November 8, 2005
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB026
ARLB026 Indiana Ham Radio Volunteers Assisting in Wake of Killer Tornado

Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator David Pifer, N9YNF, reports Amateur Radio volunteers are assisting relief operations in the wake of a November 6 tornado that left 22 people dead and 200 injured. The twister slashed a more than 40-mile swath through part of Kentucky and extreme southwestern Indiana in the early morning hours, wiping out a section of a trailer park in Vanderburgh County where 18 of the fatalities occurred.

"Amateur radio has been involved with various aspects of the response from the beginning," Pifer said. The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are on the scene in the affected areas with canteen and mass-care facilities to feed and care for relief workers and tornado victims.

Volunteer and police officer Bob Pointer, N9XAW, at The Salvation Army headquarters in Evansville told ARRL that three Salvation Army mobile kitchens and three field units have been deployed in Vandenburgh and Warrick counties, and Amateur Radio is supporting their relief activities. Amateur Radio support, likely will be needed for up to one week, Pointer said.

Pifer was asking prospective Amateur Radio volunteers from the area who are willing and able to assist in the relief operation to contact Pointer at 812-431-5054.

Pointer said Amateur Radio volunteers also provided some early support for the American Red Cross, but that agency now has its own internal telecommunications up and running.

The November 6 tornado, an F3 on the Fujita scale with winds of up to 200 MPH, originated within a line of thunderstorms that struck the region. Indiana Gov Mitch Daniels has declared a state of emergency.

Kentucky SEC Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, says SKYWARN was active as the storms approached. "I had our Amateur Radio net going with National Weather Service Louisville and monitored those in the counties west of me as it approached," Dodson told ARRL. The storm hit the Hart County community of Munfordville, he said.
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Source: W1AW Bulletin via the ARRL.

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