Ham Emer­gency Radio Oper­a­tion (HERO) sta­tions acti­vat­ed by the Philippines
Ama­teur Radio Asso­ci­a­tion (PARA) are still in demand after Typhoon Haiyan
(Yolan­da), a Category‑5 storm, wreaked its destruc­tion on Novem­ber 8. 

PARA Vice Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer, Ramon Anquilan DU1UGZ has detailed HERO
sta­tions through­out the Cen­tral Philippines. 

He said that in some cas­es mobile ser­vices are avail­able, but they are patchy
and unre­li­able. Relief trucks are mov­ing with aid sup­plies along with more
per­son­nel from mul­ti-nation­al and local groups try­ing to pro­vide help. 

Ramon DU1UGZ said at Panay Island in Rox­as City the HERO sta­tion manned by
Iver DV6ILA and Arnel DW6WAV had a vis­it from a high rank­ing aid official. 

The Bureau Chief of the UN Office for Coor­di­na­tion of Human­i­tar­i­an Affairs
(UN OCHA) dropped by the sta­tion, was sur­prised to see an ama­teur radio station,
and intro­duced him­self as Fer­nan­do Arroyo EA4BB. 

Ramon DU1UGZ said “He could not believe his eyes when he saw the station.?
Fer­nan­do EA4BB had a few short QSOs on the spot. 

After re-vis­it­ing the HERO sta­tion almost every day, he then appoint­ed Arnel
DV6WAV a head of his con­voy team to meet inter­na­tion­al aid vol­un­teers at
the airport. 

More than 29 for­eign agen­cies have so far arrived to car­ry out their relief
and recov­ery aid work. 

The HERO sta­tion in Rox­as City report­ed that pow­er has been restored to shops
that also have bank­ing facil­i­ties, but most res­i­den­tial areas are still with
no pow­er. Allan 4F6UUX report­ed the same lack of elec­tric­i­ty in some parts
of Iloi­lo City. 

PA Capt. Rick (Sig­nals Bat) DW6RCC has con­stant­ly fur­nished HERO with official
SitReps for Region 6 since Day 2 and with the help of DU6BG, a ham transceiver
was also pro­vid­ed to the Office of Civ­il Defence in Rox­as City as a secondary
means of communication. 

In his report on the Leyte-Samar area, Ramon DU1UGZ said the Don Bosco Technical
Col­leges are very active with DX1DBT manned by stu­dent hams, DU7/N1PK in
Cebu manned by a priest and DV1WDJ/5 in Boron­gan by anoth­er priest and DV5PO. 

Don Bosco sup­plied more diesel fuel for the gen­er­a­tor at the HERO station
of Lester DV5PO. 

Paul Ancheta DV1WDJ, anoth­er stu­dent and mem­ber of the Don Bosco Technical
Col­lege Ama­teur Radio Club DX1DBT, spent time at Boron­gan with oth­er priests
to set up a HF station. 

Upon set­ting up the sta­tion he report­ed that although there was a mobile
phone sig­nal where he was locat­ed, it was intermittent. 

He fur­ther report­ed the arrival of two trucks of relief goods brought by
Gawad Kalin­ga Que­zon City head­ed by Jose Marie Equinas, but was diverted
to Our Lady of Nativ­i­ty Sem­i­nary to ser­vice the needs of sem­i­nar­i­ans and
local residents. 

Paul DV1WDJ also said he was able to install an invert­er and would soon test
out solar panels. 

Randy Panci­to DV7NGG has set up the Don Bosco Liloan sta­tion serv­ing as the
Cebu link to the Don Bosco Boron­gan lifeline. 

Jer­ick Sil­va DV5JMS of ACCESS 5 updat­ed HERO by say­ing they can oper­ate on
7.095 only when the mil­i­tary stops transmitting. 

He said his oth­er trans­ceiv­er was being used by the mil­i­tary at Com­mand Post,
Grand­stand, Tacloban City.  Jer­ick DV5JMS also added that their diligence
in search­ing for a mem­ber DV5JEE from Barangay San Jose paid off when they
received word that he was okay. 

Jer­ick DV5JMS has told Lester DV5PO of an ACCESS 5 team, that the Albay Province
Office of Civ­il Defence team was mov­ing to Boron­gan East­ern Samar. 

He request­ed Lester DV5PO mon­i­tor both 40 metres and VHF 145.650 for better
coor­di­na­tion. DV5JMS Jer­ick also said that that the Com­mand Post of the Office
for Civ­il Defence (OCD) in Mani­la is also mon­i­tor­ing 7.095.

He added that Reni Ella­ba 4F5RAG is now in a good con­di­tion and embedded
with the Depart­ment of Health teams at the city hospital. 

Mario Mon­ge 4F5MM of ACCESS 5 updat­ed HERO that San Juani­co Bridge is open
and secured by Philip­pines Army. 

The shop­ping malls Robin­son’s & Gaisano are still closed but small­er groceries
are now open. There are five gas sta­tions open with diesel at prevailing
pump prices. Sev­en banks have opened but some are just on ATM transactions.
Two couri­ers, LBC & JRS, are now oper­at­ing. There are now reg­u­lar bus, jeepney
and van trips to and from Tacloban City. 

DU7JGU James Uy report­ed that anoth­er NORAD 7 team is now on its way to Tacloban
to help at the Bethany Hos­pi­tal. This team have no equip­ment for 40m and
will only be using 2m radios. 

Nand­ing DW5OCF reports there is still no elec­tric­i­ty in Ormoc City (south­west
of Tacloban City) but roads and bridges are now pass­able and water supply
is now 80 per cent functional. 

DX9EVM mem­bers from Davao have reached the inte­ri­ors of Palo, Leyte, also
brought relief goods and han­dled health and wel­fare traf­fic. RADNET 5 members
are now active on assist­ing a feed­ing pro­gram and relief distributions. 

In rela­tion to the Cebu Islands, Roy Gar­bon­era DV8BQI has set­tled in Barangay
San Agustin, Madridejos. 

He recount­ed his expe­ri­ence in cross­ing to Ban­tayan Island via Hag­naya Pier
and said there was a long queue for load­ing relief goods round­ed by FARE
8 in Dipolog City, Zam­boan­ga del Norte. 

Roy DV8BQI dis­trib­uted the goods he had with him and reports the need for
nails and tar­pau­lin as tem­po­rary repair mate­r­i­al for hous­es. The mobile phone
works but there is no res­i­den­tial power. 

Jojo DU1VHY reports that the French Team is all set to pull out from Bantayan
Islands.  But on reli­able infor­ma­tion pri­vate organ­i­sa­tions includ­ing the
Rotary Clubs are going to Ban­tayan Island to dis­trib­ute goods includ­ing tents. 

In anoth­er devel­op­ment John (Trent) Hays DW5HT with oth­ers are in Manila
includ­ing Thel­ma DU1IVT, Jojo DU1VHY, Romy DV1SMQ, Pan­ny DU1EQ, Maris DV1SUE,
Rey­carl DV1SOV, Gilbert DU1GG, Dolores DU1DLY, Greg DU1GE and Max 4F1BYN. 

They held the first HERO Assess­ment Meet­ing in the office of PARA in Manila. 

While Clif­ford Certeza DU1CC/MM is trav­el­ling back from Coron, Palawan on
board T/F Kap­i­tan Felix Oca after unload­ing relief goods for 22 hours. Another
relief oper­a­tion is set by the hard­work­ing team of DU1CC, this time maybe
for Tacloban. 

Ramon DU1UGZ said, “Our HEROs are now stretch­ing their resources and capabilities.
 Not only as com­mu­ni­ca­tors but also as indi­vid­u­als whose per­son­al lives and
fam­i­lies have been great­ly affect­ed by this disaster.” 

The full size and scope of the work done by the indi­vid­u­als of HERO network
is some­thing that won’t be known for some time. The need to keep the frequency
of 7095 kHz and oth­ers clear for emer­gency relat­ed mes­sages still exists. 

— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Committee.