Indone­sian dis­as­ters – update
As the dual nat­ur­al dis­as­ters of an erupt­ing vol­cano and the after­math of a Tsuna­mi con­tin­ue, ORARI (Organ­isasi Amatir Radio Indone­sia) has advised how its mem­bers are pro­vid­ing emer­gency communications.
ORARI Inter­na­tion­al Affairs Coor­di­na­tor, Wis­nu Wid­ja­ja YB0AZ said, “Our mem­bers are still work­ing in the field at Mount Mer­api Erup­tion dis­as­ter and Mentawai Tsuna­mi. We are work­ing on the 2‑metre band and HF is 7.065MHz.”
He asks that the 40m fre­quen­cy and the IARU Region 3 Emer­gency Cen­tre of Activ­i­ty Fre­quen­cies be kept clear from reg­u­lar use.
“We are sup­port­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion for res­cue, first aid, medic, food and logis­tics. We are embed­ded with the local gov­ern­ment and Min­istry of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Res­cue Team,” said Wis­nu YB0AZ.
Mount Mer­api at Yogyakar­ta province has had a series of erup­tions and claimed 138 lives. Vol­canic ash air pol­lu­tion is also dis­rupt­ing inter­na­tion­al flights and ham­per­ing local air­craft move­ments deliv­er­ing much need­ed med­ical and oth­er sup­plies. Thou­sands have fled the imme­di­ate vol­cano area.
Mean­time the tsuna­mi trig­gered by a 7.2 mag­ni­tude quake that hit the Mentawai Islands washed away coastal vil­lages claim­ing an esti­mat­ed 400 lives. Aid is yet to reach all of the remote and sparse­ly pop­u­lat­ed areas.
Wis­nu YB0AZ said that espe­cial­ly in the Mentawai dis­as­ter, com­mu­ni­ca­tions sup­port is being pro­vid­ed to the Indone­sian Red Cross.
Our thoughts are with the ORARI Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Res­cue Task Force team mem­bers as they enter anoth­er week of pro­vid­ing emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions, often in dif­fi­cult circumstances.
— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man, IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Committee.