First week of Japan disaster
JARL HQ station JA1RL and other amateur stations are maintaining the effort
to support disaster relief operation which is being captured by audio and
vision.
IARU Region 3 Secretary, Ken Yamamoto JA1CJP said in less damaged areas,
the power supply is being restored gradually and local amateur radio club
members have started to establish stations at shelters either on HF, VHF
or UHF bands.
Ken Yamamoto said, ?The radio amateurs in the affected areas are also making
use of UHF repeaters for communications between shelters and local disaster
relief centres.
?According to reports from the shelters, they are generally shortages of
food, drinking water, fuel and medical goods. This is mainly due to difficulty
of transportation because of road situation and staff shortage.?
He said JA1RL continues to operate under instruction to be an emergency traffic
centre. Using the 7 MHz, 144 MHz and 430 MHz bands it is receiving help from
JARL members in the affected areas.
Field stations are using various frequencies, including some battery powered
and others using small generators. Each is exchanging rescue and disaster
relief operation information with JA1RL and others.
While 3525, 7030, 7043 and 7075 have been mentioned as in use, it's wise
to keep those, and all of the Centre of Emergency frequencies clear of normal
and non-urgent traffic. There is no call for additional foreign radio amateurs.
Ken JA1CJP notes that JARL has received many e-mail messages from radio amateur
radio societies and individual hams of many nations and territories in all
six continents.
?These messages convey their condolences, sympathies and prayers for the
people in Japan. JARL appreciates them very much and is encouraged by them,?
he said.
?I have also picked up some update information from news sources. The situation
is getting worse. On March 17, police announced 5,178 people have been killed
and 8,913 are missing. The numbers are sharply rising as most affected areas
become accessible by search and rescue teams,? he said.
The teams are from Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, USA,
Germany, Switzerland and Russia.
The status of Fukushima nuclear plant is still serious and local residents
within 20km radius have been evacuated.
It has been a week since the 8.9 on the Richter scale quake, the worst in
140 years, hit off Sendai triggering a ten-metre tsunami.
Statements issued by Vertex Standard Yaesu said its centre at Fukushima was
currently out of action, while Icom and Kenwood are located elsewhere and
not suffered the same outage. No reports have been received from other manufacturers
at this time.
- Jim Linton, VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee.