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Communicating During and After a Disaster:
from
cfc.news8.net
Website:
http://cfc.news8.net/affinity/affarticle.cfm?id=133
on
May 17, 2008
View comments about this article!
Communicating During and After a Disaster:
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Communicating During and After a Disaster:
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by KE5SUA on May 18, 2008
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Good story. wasn't solely focused on ham radio but he did give a good rendition of the role of ham radio during and after disasters.
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Communicating During and After a Disaster:
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by WN9G on May 20, 2008
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I agree that it was a "general purpose" article that applies to Hams and non-Hams with good advice for those living in disaster prone areas.
There was a part about turning to Hams locally to pass traffic that (I feel) requires additional comment.
After many of the hurricanes in the last few years, (especially the fiasco of Disaster Relief after Katrina) State, local and even Federal governments are tightening security. In many places, you have to have NIMS certification AND be affiliated with an approved agency and have proof of that with an ID card, and that is just to gain access to disaster zones. If you are affiliated with an agency, you will be under their supervision and must deploy according to their direction when and where they tell you to go. This means if you volunteer, you may not be "the local Ham guy" as you may have to be some place else - more likely as not. If you evacuate your home, in some places and under some circumstances, you may not be allowed to return until local authorities have deemed it "safe" for you. The fact that you are a Ham means nothing. If you choose to stay, you may be able to be "that Ham guy" that people know so well. (Perhaps standing over the wreck of your antenna farm, as your wife looks at you with a look that can only mean she wants you to place importance on something else as most sane people would…..)
So if you volunteer, you may be of great help, but not necessarily for your community. If you don't volunteer, security measures and the systems in place for travelling in and out of disaster areas will not let you go where you want to go and you may end up having to leave your own home (mandatory evacuation). Some areas may be different, but in Florida, there are no “Lone Ranger” hams anymore for disaster communications. (Unless you stay put, and then you are confined to your local area, where you will be just the "Lone" part of the "Lone Ranger").
Many hams will often "rise" to the occasion and offer themselves as communicators, but many here can't physically accept the challenge to be used in a field situation, indeed, some are doing well to make it to the mike in their own house. If they have to evacuate, they may bring an HT or use the equipment they have in their car, but most VHF traffic is going to be for those who are using the repeaters (still operating) for Emcom and other proprietary communications. H+W information is very slow and is generally funneled though the local law enforcement and dispersed through them more than through hams.
I was the ARES Emergency Coordinator in Morgan County Indiana for a few years, and with that group, I followed behind tornadoes and did damage assessments, worked closely with local law enforcement to help block roads and coordinate evacuation efforts when a tornado knocked over a huge propane tank, and countless spotter trips to watch for and report on severe weather directly to the NWS in Indianapolis.
I moved to Florida in 1998 and went through some bad storms but not near as bad as when hurricane Charlie came ashore 10 miles from my house! I hadn't affiliated myself with any group as there wasn't a need for spotters and hurricanes may be big and dangerous, but they are slow. The NWS doesn't "rely" on hams here in this part of the state (Many tornado warnings and watches are based entirely on data from advanced Doppler radar and/or law enforcement verification) although they are sometimes called upon to check on severe weather. Some parts of the state NWS uses spotters more often than does others. After Charlie came through, I jumped in my truck and tuned to the repeater at the local EOC about 15 miles away. I headed toward ground zero and started giving road reports so that emergency vehicles could weave their way through the area where trees and entire lots of tress had blown across roads and essentially blocked them for hours. I gave damage reports and answered questions asked by the EOC personnel. 45 minutes later, as I was leaving the island, a string of emergency vehicles was winding it's way through the area using my directions (or finding it themselves, although they used the routing I suggested). I went back home and listened as the local group used the repeater to help set up schedules and volunteers for the emergency shelter(s). The remainder of the evening and the next few days, the traffic consisted of matters involving schedules for radio operators and getting enough pillows for the shelter; all “essential” traffic for the only known repeater still on the air in the Ft Myers, Cape Coral, FL area.
My point is that if you aren't part of an organized group or a "known" individual with a "known" signal on HF, chances are people will not come to you for traffic or ask you to relay traffic. In this area, you may have to stand down. Of course you can always volunteer after the fact, but there are requirements, most of them pertain to having NIMS training and having a "go" kit. When you do volunteer, you won't be doing your own "thing". You will have to go where they tell you. There are some benefits to volunteering, but helping your own local community is not one that is guaranteed.
Since we are used to dealing with Disaster situations here, there is more of an infrastructure set up to handle it. All of the cell sites have generators, all of the gas stations on evacuation routes are required by law to have generators, the local law enforcement, fire, search and rescue facilities are all equipped with generators and have had their antennas upgraded to exceed 135 mph winds. They practice and drill their personnel and they have the respect of the community at large. To be able to work with these agencies in a way that will be beneficial, Hams have to be prepared and up to date on all of the requirements for personnel in a disaster area and they have to have their "act together" so that they aren't a burden.
The good part about this is that those who have stepped up and assisted during these disasters have made Amateurs look good and set an example for those who want to help. Those that didn't are usually not remembered because they never "connected", they were sent back to get qualified.
In any case, these new measures in Florida and in many of the Gulf States have raised the bar for Hams that want be an asset in Disaster Communications everywhere. They're not just that "Ham radio guy" that lives down the street anymore,
Submitted respectfully,
Kevin Farley
WN9G
ARDCLP
Amateur Radio Disaster Communication Link Project
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