Here is a link to an article from the ARRL. Sounds like there are problems
getting help into the area.
73's
Steve AI9T
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/30/1/?nc=1
> ---------- 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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