Earth­quake in China
A week ago yes­ter­day (Sat­ur­day) a major earth­quake hit China’s south­west rur­al area of Ya’an, which has now left 200 dead, injured about 12,000 and many more peo­ple homeless.
Fan Bin BA1RB report­ed that ama­teur radio oper­a­tors swung into action to pro­vide emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions and coor­di­nate parts of the dis­as­ter response.
With top­pled hous­es every­where, res­cuers fran­ti­cal­ly began their search of the rub­ble for sur­vivors, while med­ical staff treat­ed those hurt on the ground and in make-shift hospitals.
Pan­ic was evi­dent with sur­vivors shel­ter­ing in cars and tents. Bad­ly hit Lushan Coun­ty is now like a large refugee camp with vol­un­teers pro­vid­ing meals.
Fan Bin BA1RB has recent­ly report­ed that pub­lic com­mu­ni­ca­tion was back to nor­mal in the dis­as­ter area and the local repeater sys­tems con­tin­ued to work.
He said the Chi­nese Radio Sports Asso­ci­a­tion, also known as the Chi­nese Radio Ama­teur Club, no longer required emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tion fre­quen­cies. It expressed thanks for the sup­port from IARU mem­ber soci­eties and oth­ers dur­ing the disaster.
A role for some radio hams was main­tain­ing traf­fic con­trol, with emer­gency sup­plies arriv­ing includ­ing tents, water, food and medicine.
Rain ham­pered search and res­cue efforts in the quake zone, and added to fall­en trees and land­slides mak­ing progress slow­er in some areas. After-shocks also occurred.
The Sichuan provin­cial gov­ern­ment report­ed that 3,000 kilo­me­tres of road and 327 bridges had been dam­aged. The total repair bill from the earth­quake was put at $3 billion.
The cen­tral gov­ern­ment of Chi­na, local offi­cials, res­cuers, relief work­ers and radio ama­teurs are much bet­ter pre­pared to deal with dis­as­ters, than has been the case in the past.
Help came from neigh­bour­ing Rus­sia, which sent res­cue teams, and the Red Cross from Hong Kong with an embed­ded radio ama­teur, are help­ing the on-going effort.
— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man of the IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mit­tee with Fin Ban BA1RB, and Rudy Wong VR2USP.