Asian Radio Amateurs Bridging Communication Gap following Tsunami
NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 28, 2004--Amateur Radio organizations and individual amateurs in several of the countries affected by the December 26 earthquake and consequent tsunamis in South Asia have begun emergency communication activities. The death toll from the disaster has been estimated at more than 50,000 lives, and health authorities now worry that thousands more may die from disease, due in part to a lack of potable water. Relief organizations and governments around the world have rallied to assist the victims, many of whom are homeless. DXer Charly Harpole, K4VUD/VU3CHE, was visiting the National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR) VU4RBI/VU4NRO DXpedition in Port Blair on Andaman Island when the earthquake struck. He said the team suspended DXpedition operation and shifted quickly to emergency mode.
"By that afternoon, the team had set up one rig outside with a mobile whip and tuner, powered by the hotel generator, and Bharathi [Prasad, VU2RBI--the DXpedition team leader] was taking health-and-welfare messages from the people standing around there," Harpole reported to ARRL. He is scheduled to relate his earthquake experience on US national television during an appearance on NBC's Today show Wednesday, December 29.
"Many wanted to tell relatives on the Indian mainland that they were OK," Harpole continued, "and Bharathi established contact with many India ham stations in various cities as needed." He said Bharathi was able to relay a message to his wife via a contact with a station in Thailand that he was all right.
Harpole, who returned to Thailand December 27 as scheduled, speculates the team may resume DXpedition operation since Port Blair escaped the worst damage, and the aftershocks have apparently ceased. Sandeep Baruah, VU2MUE, reports that VU4NRO is active on 20 meters, and two additional hams from the Indian mainland--VU2DVO and VU2JOS--have arrived in Port Blair to assist.
Calcutta VHF Amateur Radio Society Assistant Secretary Horey Majumdar, VU2HFR, relayed information from VU4RBI today that the situation in the Andamans has improved considerably with power and some telephone service being restored, although some aftershocks were occurring from time to time. He also says that VU4RBI and VU4NRO were having a lot of trouble copying signals from the Indian mainland, in part due to RF interference from local sources.
C. K. "Ram" Raman, VU3DJQ, in New Delhi reports that one member of the VU4RBI/VU4NRO DXpedition team, S. Ram Mohan, VU2MYH/VU4MYH, has established a station on Car Nicobar Island, one of the worst hit areas that had been totally cut off. Traffic has been noted on 14.190, 14.195 and 14.200 MHz. Raman has been operating at low power to avoid interfering with a nearby army communication site.
Majumdar says the VU4MYH station marks the very first Amateur Radio operation from Nicobar Island. "Mohan's signals were extremely weak, and he was in the skip zone of the Andaman stations on 20 meters," he said. "Improvisation was the name of the game. Hams had to switch to good old CW and switch frequencies from 14.190 and 14.160 MHz to 7.090 MHz." He said in the afternoon, signals were best on 15 meters (21.240 MHz) between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands stations.
"The Amateur Radio station from Nicobar is perhaps playing the most vital part in what is turning out to be the world's largest disaster operation," Majumdar said. "Hams from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and even Israel are checking into the VU emergency nets and extending their fullest cooperation in the truest spirit of Amateur Radio."
Elsewhere, he reports, upward of three dozen stations on the Indian mainland are participating in an emergency net on 7.050 MHz. He said hams from South India have established stations in Tamil Nadu, the hardest hit area on the mainland where thousands died in fishing villages. Hams were handling both health-and-welfare and emergency and medical communications, he told ARRL.
Fragmented information continues to arrive from other areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami. At this point, there have been no specific requests for communication assistance from outside the region.
Musa Suraatmadja, YB0MOS, the secretary-general of the Indonesia Amateur Radio Organization (ORARI) responded gratefully to an International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) request to assist. "So far we can still manage," he said. "Our ORARI members are amongst the first to go to the stricken areas doing emergency communication, rescue operations and other things." The 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Tony Waltham, HS0ZDX, vice president of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) called the earthquake and tsunamis "truly a disaster of catastrophic proportions which has never before been experienced by Thailand--or by our neighbouring countries that share an Indian Ocean or Andaman Sea coastline." He said communication needs in Thailand are being met.
"The situation is now under control, with Thai hams helping to relay information between the affected areas along the west coast in the south to government agencies--mostly on VHF and 40 meters as well as by disseminating news and information over VHF frequencies in Bangkok." He said EchoLink also has been playing a role in enabling hams in Thailand to relay information to friends and relatives of those who had been on vacation in the stricken areas.
Waltham says what is needed most is help for the thousands of injured and homeless, and RAST now is accepting donations for that purpose to pass on to the Thai government. He said the best method to donate is by wire transfer.
Contributions are being accepted at Siam City Bank, Ratchawat Branch No 111, Account type: Saving; Account number: 111-2-22688-4; Account name: RAST (Radio Amateur Society of Thailand under the Royal patronage of His Majesty the King).
He requests that donors send details of their support to RAST via e-mail
dx@thai.com "for our records and so that we can acknowledge this and give full credit."
The ARRL and IARU have been sharing information with other agencies and organization.
Salvation Army Team Emergency Network (SATERN) National Director Pat McPherson, WW9E, reports Salvation Army personnel continue to offer emergency disaster services aid in southeastern Asia and costal India. "Salvation Army personnel are based in many of the devastated areas and have been on the forefront of offering aid and relief to the people struggling after this unexpected tragedy," he said. "Salvation Army volunteers fed more than 1200 people in the Kanyakumari and Muttom areas in India and many Salvation Army facilities are being used as feeding sites and emergency shelters in affected communities."
Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services teams are also assisting government and other agencies in assessing needs and trying to find ways to meet them. The Salvation Army's International Emergency Disasters Services Office located in London is coordinating the relief operation.
Third Party Traffic Question
Since none of the countries affected by the earthquake and tsunami have third-party traffic agreements with the US, the question has been raised about the legality of such traffic--especially health-and-welfare messages--between those countries and US amateur stations. A staff member in the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau points out that the international Radio Regulations as revised at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) provide that amateur stations may be used for transmitting international communications of behalf of third parties only in case of emergencies or disaster relief.
"An administration may determine the applicability of this provision to amateur stations under its jurisdiction," the FCC staff member told ARRL. Although the FCC has not formally adopted the changes approved at WRC-03, he continued, "the FCC has no objection to US stations passing disaster-related traffic to and from stations in the affected areas if the administrations responsible for the Amateur Service in those countries do not object to their amateur stations receiving messages from our amateur stations on behalf of third parties."