[SCCC] Fw: [The Daily DX] All OK in VU4 land !!!

[Michael Tope]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Gauthier" <mike at catns.net>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bernie McClenny" <bernie at dailydx.com>
> To: "'The Daily DX mailing List'" <dailydx at kkn.net>; "'The Weekly DX
mailing
> List'" <weeklydx at kkn.net>
> Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 5:00 PM
> Subject: [The Daily DX] All OK in VU4 land !!!
>
>
>
> Below is an update from K4VUD, Charley, who is now in Bangkok, Thailand.
> For those of you in the United States you will get an opportunity to see
and
> hear a first hand account of Charley's story of the VU4 DXpedition Tuesday
> December 28th between 7:00 and 8:00 AM EST.  Yes Charley will be
interviewed
> by NBC and shown on the Today Show.  Once we have the exact times from
> producer Sandy Rivera I will post them.  Feel free to pass this on to your
> Amateur Radio friends.  This should be great exposure as to the benefits
of
> Amateur Radio!  Find a blank video tape and be ready.
>
> 73
> Bernie, W3UR
>
>
> Hello DXers...
>
> Dec. 27 at 2300 Z
>
> Hey, a whole lotta shakin' goin' on.  Sorry to be out of touch for a
while,
> but the phone service and thus email service went out with the first quake
> on Andaman, VU4.  This is my first minute to get to a reliable email
> service.
>
> 1.  Morning after Xmas, I was resting from sleep and thinking about what
to
> do that coming day when my bed started to quiver like a large train was
> coming by.  Then, the room started to rock about when I stood up.  Walking
> and standing were difficult,bottles were faling off the shelves, and my
> fifth floor room floor felt like rubber.  I got braced within the bathroom
> door until things settled down.  Then, I found my pants and shirt and ran,
> shoes in hand, down the stairs and joined everyone else from the hotel in
> the open out front.  Bharathi was already safely outside there.  She was
on
> the air at the time, but quickly figured out what was hapening and got
out.
>
> 2.  There were extra holiday guests at the hotel.  Various groups formed,
> and I sat with some English speakers at a table in the hotel garden.  I
> noted to all who would listen that a BIG WAVE would come with an ocean
> quake.  We were, by then, drinking tea and looking down on the ocean from
> about 80 feet above high tide.  The sea rapidly turned brown near us, but
> there was no real surge.  As the day went on and 8 to 10 more small
tremors
> came and went, several of us took quick runs to our rooms to get
> necessities.  The radios were left in the room.  The roof antennas showed
no
>
> signs of damage at all.
>
> 3.  As the other team members came to our hotel, we learned of the big
wave
> that hit the water front in Port Blair.  Saraha had taken some videos
there
> with the water still about a foot deep over the street that fronted the
> ocean.  All team members were very OK.
>
> 4.  In the immediate Port Blair area, four people died (one from landing
on
> his head as he dove out his home window seeking escape), the local
newspaper
>
> reported.
>
> 5.  Port Blair and all but 4 of its citizens escaped serious damage.  Most
> of you have now seen the video of the real damage that occurred in other
> places around the Indian Ocean rim... very bad for people and property.
>
> 6.  By that afternoon, the team had set up one rig outside with a mobile
> whip and tuner...powered by the Hotel generator... and Bharathi was taking
> health and welfare messages from the people standing around there.  Many
> wanted to tell relatives on the Indian mainland that they were ok, and
> Bharathi established contact with many India ham stations in various
cities
> as needed.  Traffic was being passed.  She told my wife in Thailand that I
> was ok via contact with an HS station who passed the message by telephone
in
>
> Thailand.... very nice to be a ham !
>
> 7. The team got cots from the hotel and, along with most others, slept out
> in the open that night.  I slept fitfully near the lobby door on a couch
> inside, reasoning rightly this time, that the worst was over.
>
> 8.  I will have more reports later, but the main news for ham radio is THE
> TEAM IS COMPLETELY OK AND SAFE.  They have suspended normal DXpedition
> operations while helping out with health and welfare messages and whatever
> other duties may have come to them after I departed Port Blair vy early
this
>
> morning (as I was originally scheduled to do).  I suspect they will go
back
> to DXpedition work soon because Port Blair escaped the worst damage and
the
> after shocks apparantly have also stopped.
>
> Thanks for all the good wishes.  73 for now,
>
> Charles Harpole
> k4vud at hotmail.com
>
>
>
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