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Author Topic: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?  (Read 858 times)

KD0VE

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Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« on: September 02, 2019, 09:46:52 AM »

Still a relative rookie here so possibly a few dumb questions …

I remember reading about teams of hams that went to assist in Puerto Rico a few years ago.

The Bahamas are truly getting hammered right now and it seems likely their comm infrastructure will have sustained extensive damage, possibly even wiped out. (who builds towers to hold up to 150mph+ winds?)

Assuming hams go to help how does that occur?  what freq's would be likely places to listen to recovery efforts once they are underway.

thx
KD0ZGW
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K6CPO

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2019, 10:19:26 AM »

The first thing that would happen is the Bahamian Government would ask for assistance and they'd have to specify what kind of assistance they required.
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AA4PB

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2019, 11:20:24 AM »

Check out: https://hwn.org/
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Bob  AA4PB
Garrisonville, VA

N8AUC

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2019, 12:13:38 PM »

The first thing that would happen is the Bahamian Government would ask for assistance and they'd have to specify what kind of assistance they required.

In the US, that would be absolutely correct. For ARES, self-deployment is a huge no-no.
Being trained, prepared and ready is important. But under NIMS/ICS, you only come when you're
called, *IF* you're called. Resources get staged and categorized by type, and then deployed
where Emergency Management specifies, according to THEIR needs. Bottom line is, if you're
not requested, you stay home. Period.

Being in a different country could also be problematic. Jurisdictional authority has to be honored.
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are part of the US, so there weren't jurisdictional issues after Irma and Rita.

Last report I saw, Dorian was virtually stalled over Grand Bahama.
Those 150+ MPH winds have to be chewing up the island pretty bad, I'd imagine.
The aftermath is probably not going to be pretty.

« Last Edit: September 02, 2019, 12:16:09 PM by N8AUC »
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KB8VUL

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2019, 06:42:43 PM »

I think that a better question here is what to do IF you get ask to help. 
You need to be thinking about yourself in that situation, and not in a training situation where the coffee pot is across the room and is always full.

You are going to be going into a full grid down situation where there is no power, and even basic shelter may not be readily available.
If you are passing traffic, you may be the only one doing it for hours and hours at a time.

SO before you roll out, you need to think about being prepared for the situation.
Take water, a gallon for every day you will be there, and don't get it in your head if things get bad, you can just come home. 
Take basic food, Ramen soup, canned soups and foods, Stuff that has a shelf life and doesn't require cooling.  Ice and refigeration is not gonna happen.
You will need to take a bed roll and a sleeping bag.  I would advise a test as well.  Chances are good that they would provide a secure location for you, but that still may be in some court yard with armed guards for your protection, you have no idea if you will be in a building, or if there are many buildings to be in that are safe to inhabit.  They just got slammed by a major hurricane, things will not be real good there.
IF you are in any way medication dependant, old, or out of shape, let someone else do this and stay home.  Living in the aftermath of a situation like this can be harder to survive than the hurricane it self. 

Getting a ride out may not be real easy, and you are
providing the only means of communication, so they may not let you leave.

If you aren't up to it, don't try.
If you are working the situation from here, state side.  Get out and get supplies, have food and water to hunker down and work.  Get word out to your ham buddies or group and work in shifts.  The best way to handle health and welfare traffic in this day and age is email.  Get the folks that are working the situation in the effected area to get email addresses if possible for those that they are trying to pass traffic to.  Traffic nets are great, but if you can receive a message and an email address to send it to you can pass a ton of traffic very quickly if you are copying and handing off to someone that is doing the sending of the traffic.


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NA4IT

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2019, 03:19:16 AM »

A better question may be "Will there be a Bahamas to rebuild?"...
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KB8VUL

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2019, 04:00:23 AM »

A better question may be "Will there be a Bahamas to rebuild?"...

Well obviously the islands will still be there.  At least the larger ones.  As far as the infrastructure on them?  It's too soon to speculate.
With the wind numbers the news people are reporting, the body count of 5 is very low, and is most likely the numbers from people that died from heart attacks and such in shelters.
No one is going out in 150 mile an hour winds to survey damage or rescue people, it would be suicide to attempt such a thing.

Will they rebuild? I am certain they will.  The Bahamas are a huge tourist attraction, and a cash cow for someone.  Even if everything and everyone was wiped away, it will be rebuilt to become a cash cow again.
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N8AUC

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2019, 11:29:24 AM »

IF you are in any way medication dependant, old, or out of shape, let someone else do this and stay home.  
Living in the aftermath of a situation like this can be harder to survive than the hurricane it self.  

That is excellent advice. It would be very easy to "get in over your head" in a situation like that.

Getting a ride out may not be real easy, and you are providing the only means of communication, so they may not let you leave.

This is very true. I know a ham who deployed to the Virgin Islands in response to official requests for help after Irma.
He did it correctly, went through the proper channels, and got to the EOC on St. Croix, which is the only EOC in the Virgin
Islands was left standing. At that point, one ham was all the comms they had from EMA St. Croix to St. John.
There wasn't any communication infrastructure left standing on St. John. No cellular, no internet, no land mobile
for law enforcement, no commercial power, nothing was working or usable. The building that was the EOC on St. John was
basically destroyed by hurricane Irma. Well, that one ham needed an extra set of hands.  So the friend of mine was
dispatched from EMA St. Croix to do that. That one ham was a retired USCG quartermaster who also happened to be the
local two-way radio tech on the island. My friend who went down there said he was "the most prepared guy he'd ever met
in his life".  While he was there, Maria hit and he had to ride that out on the island.

He was supposed to be in the field for a week. It took 30 days before he could even get off the island to go home.
In his case, it wasn't about being allowed to leave, it was a matter of being able to leave.

Getting there is one thing, getting back out again is quite another.

« Last Edit: September 03, 2019, 11:41:10 AM by N8AUC »
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WA8NVW

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2019, 04:48:13 PM »

Reminds me about lessons from my ARC Disaster Shelter training decades ago. The first thing you plan after opening a relief facility is how to get out of there and go home. Do it while the inbound route is still fresh in your mind. Distribute as many relief supplies to the population as you can. Avoid bringing heavy or bulky stuff back out; unless you are a field hospital, it's all either consumable or replaceable.
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KB8VUL

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RE: Will hams assist in the Bahamas post Dorian recovery?
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2019, 07:22:20 PM »

SO, did anyone actually get deployed from the ham community or was this all just academic ???
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