The gath­er­ing of infor­ma­tion by radio ama­teurs that fol­lowed the 8.3‑magnitude earth­quake on Wednes­day off Chile’s cen­tral coast, and com­mu­ni­ty dis­as­ter drills, have help keep the loss of life at a minimum.
From ONEMI — Ofic­i­na Nacional de Emer­gen­cia del Min­is­te­rio del Inte­ri­or (Nation­al Office of Emer­gency of the Inte­ri­or Min­istry), radio ama­teurs gath­ered vital information.
The earth­quake shook build­ings in the Chilean cap­i­tal of San­ti­a­go, and pan­icked peo­ple gath­ered in the streets. Dam­aged build­ings were report­ed in the South Amer­i­can country.
Marisa Tobel­la Pin­to CE2MT, Direc­tor of Emer­gency Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, of the Radio Club de Chile, said that emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions were pro­vid­ed by radio ama­teurs through­out Chile.
He said these were most intense dur­ing the declared Tsuna­mi alert stage, which saw the evac­u­a­tion of mil­lion peo­ple to safe­ty. The alert has now been lifted.
Marisa CE2MT said those sta­tioned at ONEMI used var­i­ous net­works, pri­mar­i­ly 7050 MHz and 7080 MHz with sup­port sta­tions cov­er­ing the entire coun­try. Bor­der­ing provinces of Argenti­na were also involved.
While there had been dam­age, the deaths of 10 peo­ple, and after-shocks, the sit­u­a­tion now seemed under control.
The com­mu­ni­ty of Chile is pre­pared for dis­as­ters with drills, in recog­ni­tion that the coun­try is in a zone where seis­mic activ­i­ty occurs frequently.
The Radio Club de Chile and its trained radio ama­teurs, have recent­ly been involved in a vol­canic erup­tion, earth­quakes and a mine disaster.
‑Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Committee.