---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sam Barricklow <sam.barricklow@drig.com>
Date: Aug 31, 2005 4:41 AM
Subject: Katrina and Disaster Communications
To: WeatherChase Input <WX-CHASE@listserv.uiuc.edu>
I was still in high school when Camille sruck, and was a more active
ham radio operator then than now. I recall that there was considerable
advance warning on Camille, although the exact track was not forecast
as accurately as with Katrina.
During Camille, ham radio played a much larger role in data collection
and reporting to the NWS, both before and during landfall. Hurricane
nets were on the air around the clock prior to landfall. Within hours
after landfall, focus of the ham radio nets shifted from reporting
weather conditions to damage assessment and support of disaster relief
services.
Over the last decade, since internet access has become more universal,
ham radio activity has fallen. The reduction in activity was evident
when I monitored communications on the air prior to and during
Katrina's landfall. Activity from the affected areas ceased as
commercial power was lost. Unless there was HF activity outside of the
ham bands, perhaps on CD and FEMA frequencies, it appears that reliance
on the internet has made communications into and out of the affected
areas during and after this major disaster worse than in the past.
So, it appears that reliance on cell phones, and the internet, which
are supported by a relatively fragile infrastructure, have degraded
emergency communications capability. I don't have direct information,
but from what I heard, it appears likely that HF communications
equipment was not used by EOCs in and around New Orleans. Are there
any hams in the group that have a different impression?
Also, I don't recall how long the delay in emergency services response
by the National Guard, state police and the military might have been
after Camille, but from news reports from New Orleans eastward,
especially across the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coasts, the response
to Katrina has been painfully slow. And, if you can believe the news
reports, looting is being tolerated to a much greater degree than in
the past.
It appears to me that the effectiveness of disaster communications has
been severely degraded by advances in and over reliance upon new
technologies, especially immediately before and during Katrina.
The reasons for the decline in ham radio activity are varied, but
include a general decline in interest in science (i.e., the general
dumbing down of the American public), the attack on ham radio antennas
across the country by real estate agents and environmental whackos who
don't want their views obstructed, and diversion of potential and
licensed ham radio operators to the Internet and other computer related
activities.
As of yesterday evening, the post disaster response is now gearing up,
with ham radio nets on the air handling both emergency, and health and
welfare traffic.
Has anyone heard reports from the small communities on the delta south
and southeast of New Orleans? These small towns would have received a
much more intense battering from Katrina's winds when the hurricane was
farther south and much stronger.
Sam
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--
Peter Laws | N5UWY/9 | plaws0 gmail | Travel by Train!
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