Hello to all..
The following is a situation report on the Amateur Radio response to the Haiti Earthquake. Please note that the situation report was not updated on Friday Evening as there was little new information. Today, new information was received warranting a new situation report update.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES has received a number of Health and Welfare requests to Haiti. We have also received requests from the media on whether we have made contact with the affected area of Haiti but we are not aware of any Amateur Radio Operators in our section who have made contact with Haiti. There has been more steady contact with 2 Amateur Radio Operators via the HF Nets over the past 2 days however it is noted that HH2JR, Jean Richard is currently running with an Icom IC-706 HF Radio with a faulty display and is running out of fuel for his neighbor’s generator which he has been using to maintain power for his radio per family members who were in contact with several Amateurs who made first contact with HH2JR on January 13th. An Amateur Radio strike team from the Dominican Republic has arrived in Haiti on Friday January 15th. There has been word that HI8RCD/HH has attempted to contact the SATERN Net on 14.265 but has been unsucessful. This is per traffic monitored on the 7265 40 meter SATERN Net at approximately 430 PM ET/2130 UTC.
N1YLQ-Mike ‘Sparky’ Leger and I have been monitoring HF SATERN Nets on 14265 and 7265 starting at approximately 1230 PM ET/1730 UTC from the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Sub-Regional Command Center at the Acushnet Massachusetts Emergency Operations Center. Propagation has been poor to Haiti into New England. Some Haitian traffic could be heard on 14.265 at approximately 2 PM ET/1900 UTC but only the net control and relay stations could be heard at that time. The 40 Meter traffic was heard directly from the Acushnet EOC facility and was relayed by a station in the Bahamas. Operations will secure from the Acushnet EOC at approximately 1800/2300 UTC.
The following information was relayed by Public Relations Manager at ARRL HQ, Allen Pitts-W1AGP concerning operations and the public information aspect of the Amateur Radio response. Please also note the comments on deployment to the affected area concerning ARES which are inline with our standard operating procedures from an ARES perspective:
If you are aware of people considering volunteering for a deployment, please make sure they contact your SEC and the SEC is aware of that, the capabilities and experience. I do not know just what will happen – no one does. But anything we do with ARES deployments supporting our served agencies will go through the SECs.
As you may know (or surely guessed) , there is a LOT going on at ARRL HQ, IARU and in other Amateur Radio groups as we address the Haitian disaster. This is truly an international response, and many countries are involved, not just the USA. In these first days, there were very few Amateur Radio operators operating in Haiti. In the coming week there will be more as international assessment teams are expected to arrive from several countries and will have embedded hams with them. There will be even more in the weeks after that as recovery groups arrive. This will not be a short campaign and it is still unclear what may be the situation outside of metropolitan areas in the hill and mountain country.
While there is little coming out of Haiti so far, the country is ringed by many excellent AR stations of many nationalities who will hear anything that might come up on the air. I know that you are getting requests for information regarding relatives and friends in Haiti. These can be heartbreaking…. I am getting them too and it can be really rough emotionally. The best I have at this point is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Salvation Army’s websites. H&W going OUT of Haiti can be channeled through several programs. (Yes, I know from Katrina a lot of hams like to make THOSE calls themselves – that’s also emotional but on the good side – but do it right)
I note the posts on the reflector to be careful not to “oversell” things – they are correct. This one is different from Katrina. It will take more time, different problems (hard to believe things could be worse, but they are), and is international in scope. I expect Amateur Radio related issues, activities and events to grow in the coming weeks and we’re working hard to get out the best, VERIFIED information on the main ARRL website. We may not be the fastest ones with a headline, but we’re going to be sure of things to prevent rumor and speculation. I have spoken to most of the other major Amateur Radio related publications people and we’re all in this together.
Thanks for all you are doing.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency continues to monitor the situation to support the relief, information sharing and data intelligence activities. The MEMA State EOC is montioring the situation with some additional personnel from 9 AM-5 PM Sunday and Monday and did a similar activity Saturday for the Haiti Earthquake operations. ESF’s are no longer being utilized for this activity. There have been a number of questions on donations to the Haiti Relief Effort. The best donation is cash and information on donations to agencies can be seen via the following link:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=helpforhaiti
The remainder below is the same as Thursday Evening’s update:
Amateur Radio Operators in Eastern Massachusetts should closely monitor HF frequencies, the designated ones as listed in this situation report and sweep the HF bands for any contact with Haiti. HF bands to sweep are 20 Meters during the day and 40 and 75/80 Meters during the overnight. If any contact is made with the affected area and they are able to relay emergency/priority and health and welfare traffic, please notify SATERN, IRESC and the Eastern Massachusetts ARES/ARRL Section Staff. An updated ARRL Web Story is listed below:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/14/11290/?nc=1
A recording of phone patches was provided by K1VR-Brian Crow of Boynton Beach Florida between HH2JR-Jean Robert Gaillard and W3UZ is widely available over the Internet and is 26 minutes long. You can hear his nervousness and tenseness as the phone patches are made and the audio is at the link below:
http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/12397727/1885578730/name/Haiti%2Emp3
The edit clips from Amateur Radio Newsline and the text transcript can be heard at the following link:
http://www.arnewsline.org
Some interesting information has been made available via the stormcarib.com storm blog concerning relief operations. This can be seen via the following link:
http://stormcarib.com/reports/current/haiti.shtml
The following is from Julio Ripoll-WD4R, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator, who received data on a jump team heading into Haiti for Amateur Radio support per the data below:
Haiti Update
http://aren.ie/news/2010/01/14/haiti-update-2/
The following update was received from Cesar Pio Santos, HR2P. By Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator
RCD and URDA en route to Haiti
Victor Baez, HI8VB, Secretary of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) reports that the RCD with UDRA, Unión Dominicana de Radio Aficionados, are preparing to go to Port au Prince early morning of Friday January 15 to install an emergency radio Communications station, HI8RCD/HH, and a mobile station.
Victor has a blog which hopefully he will update with more news from Haiti: www.hi8vb.tk
From ARRL HQ, Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts-W1AGP had the following information today:
Many hams are reporting that they have been contacted by family members hoping to get H&W messages into Haiti. This is not possible at this time. The International Committee of the Red Cross has established protocols. Point folks there – and yes, some of these calls have been heartbreakers. But let’s do what we can to help. The document on the ICRC info is listed below:
http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/lost_family.doc
Meanwhile, I am getting the first of the “I want to go to Haiti” calls and emails here. At this time we are in contact with a LOT of agencies and much is going on behind the scenes. For now there are NO calls for hams from responding agencies. This may change quickly – nothing is assured at all in the developing story. If there are to be any assignments, the vetting will go through the section SECs. So point anyone that is anxious to go to talk to their section’s SEC.
All data below is the same from the Wednesday Evening situation report and remains valid with one correction to the SATERN frequencies where there was a typo. Remainder below is unchanged:
On Tuesday there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, which has since been followed by serious aftershocks. Communications in and out of Haiti have been disrupted. No word has been received as of yet from any of the national HH Amateur Radio operators. The DailyDX notes that HH2/HB9AMO, Pierre, is OK and was located about 140 km north of Port-au-Prince in Cap Haitien at the time.
The IARU Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator, Arnie Coro, CO2KK, is coordinating the multi-national response by hams. There are organized nets on 7045 and 3720 kHz and amateurs are asked to monitor but also keep the frequencies clear of non-essential traffic. Amateur Radio operators should also be aware that emergency traffic pertaining to the Haitian earthquake is expected on the SATERN frequencies of 14265, 7265 and 3977 according to SATERN’s leader, Major Pat McPherson. The Salvation Army has a website up for H&W traffic and other news at www.satern.org.
Amateur Radio operators are circled around Haiti in Cuba, Florida, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other locations listening for any calls, but so far only one station has checked in.
Rich Moseson of CQ Magazine reported to us that Father John Henault, HH6JH, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre of Activity frequency for emergency communications. He said that he was safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day.
Please keep the nets clear for emergency and priority traffic on frequencies :
14300
14265
7045
7265
3977
3720
Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.
The situation is still chaotic and more information will be posted as soon as possible. Information is being validated and shared between many amateur groups and news sources as it unfolds.
Global ALE High Frequency Network (HFN) is now
on ALERT for Haiti earthquake Emergency / Disaster
Relief Communications (EMCOMM)
====HFLINK SPECIAL BULLETIN==== 13 JAN 2010
Alert: Haiti Earthquake EMCOMM
HFN Pilot Stations are active and ready 24/7
for ALE calling, relay, and internet messages.
All operators are encouraged to participate in
the ALE Comm Centre live operator chat room
http://hflink. net
and activate ALE radios on the ALE channels:
HFN net (text/internet/ sounding/ calling)
3596.0 USB
7102.0 USB
10145.5 USB
14109.0 USB
18106.0 USB
21096.0 USB
24926.0 USB
28146.0 USB
HFL net (emcomm/voice/ calling)
3791.0 USB
7185.5 USB
14346.0 USB
18117.5 USB
21437.5 USB
24932.0 USB
28312.5 USB
============ ========= ======
END OF BULLETIN
============ ========= ======
Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA
International Emcomm Coordinator
Global ALE High Frequency Network
http://hflink. net
The following is an update as provided by Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Traffic manager, Jim Ward-N1LKJ, concerning all the health and welfare traffic received to date from all across the country and internationally:
On Wednesday’s 2:30PM Eastern Area Traffic Net, Earl WX4J from Florida checked in and told all Hams to hold all Health & Welfare Traffic for now. There are just no outlets for it at this time. They will keep us advised.
Traffic can be listed on the Satern web page. www.satern.org On the Satern Net on 14.265 they gave out the information, that the State Department is giving out the phone number 888-407-4747 for all people inquiring about loved ones.
73,
Jim Ward N1LKJ STM
The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) and the Salvation Army Team Emergency Response Network (SATERN) remain active supporting Haiti Earthquake Operations. Indirect contact has been established via email and second hand reporting and info as relayed by SATERN to IRESC and by IRESC operators. Direct contact to the affected area is being attempted by both groups.
The *WX_TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 reflector system has been connected directly to the *IRESC* echolink conference node: 278173 for listen only purposes. It will remain connected for as long as IRESC is active. Anyone with emergency/priority traffic or health and welfare traffic should connect directly to *IRESC* echolink conference node: 278173. Information on IRESC can be seen via the following link:
http://www.iresc.org/
SATERN is active on HF and has performed liasion with IRESC. Per the SATERN web site, SATERN activities are active on 14.265 MHz Primary for daytime operations and 7265 and 3977.7 Khz for evening and night time operations. Information on SATERN can be seen via the following link:
http://www.satern.org/
Once again, any stations that have HF capability or get any sort of contact with Haiti and those people can assist with emergency/priority traffic or health & welfare traffic are asked to make this known to the Eastern Massachusetts ARES/ARRL staff, IRESC and SATERN to setup direct contact and communications flow with the disaster zone. This would benefit those with Emergency/Priority and Health and Welfare traffic into Haiti. Stations that have Health and Welfare traffic to Haiti can provide the info to these groups but it may be several days before the messages will be delivered and relayed back so those that can help with direct contact with Haiti or contact through relays could help speed up the Health and welfare traffic flow.
We wish the best for the victims of this serious earthquake that has affected Haiti. Another situation Report will be posted Monday evening or sooner if a significant development involving direct contact with Haiti occurs.
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
