Mon­soon rains spread in India
Flood­ing caused by heavy mon­soon rains con­tin­ue to affect India with the death toll var­i­ous­ly put at 1,000 in the north on the Indo-Tibet bor­der, and now the south of that coun­try is also being deluged.
In the north flood­ing has sev­er­al ama­teur radio sta­tions pass­ing emer­gency traf­fic where many pil­grims and tourists to the holy area were trapped.
Jayu S. Bhide VU2JAU, Nation­al Coor­di­na­tor for Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in India, said relief sta­tions were still using 40m and 20m to pass mes­sages of health and wel­fare mat­ters. A sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tion is now hap­pen­ing in the south.
“A dis­as­ter sit­u­a­tion is also in South India and again radio ama­teurs are pro­vid­ing nec­es­sary com­mu­ni­ca­tion to the pub­lic and admin­is­tra­tion,” said Jayu VU2JAU.
He reports that hams in Val­parai are link­ing local gov­ern­ment with oth­er offi­cials at Coim­bat­ore and Pollachi.
Recent rain dam­age in the area result­ed in the instal­la­tion of a ham sta­tion manned by the Ama­teur Radio Club in Pol­lachi for emer­gency communications.
Accord­ing to mete­o­rol­o­gists some areas have had more than twice their aver­age month­ly rain­fall totals with the fastest start ever to the mon­soon season.
Many areas are suf­fer­ing due to the rain which is due to last a few weeks longer. This includes parts of the cap­i­tal New Del­hi where the flood­ed Yamu­na Riv­er has inun­dat­ed some streets, shops and homes.
— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mit­tee, with help from Indi­a’s Nation­al Coor­di­na­tor for Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Jayu Bhide VU2JAU.