The 7.1 earth­quake in Mex­i­co that downed many build­ings and killed more than 250, plus Hur­ri­cane Maria that swept through a num­ber of Caribbean nations, have kept emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions fre­quen­cies busy with coor­di­na­tion and traffic.

Net­works not in the affect­ed areas, par­tic­u­lar­ly the Colom­bia Ama­teur Radio League (LCRA), and in the USA, are seek­ing infor­ma­tion about rel­a­tives in the Caribbean islands.

Reports are con­tin­u­ing from Hur­ri­cane Maria, a Cat­e­go­ry 5 storm, which hit Puer­to Rico, Domini­ca and Turks and Caicos.

LCRA is using 7.117 MHz for SSB and 7.085 MHz for dig­i­tal modes, as well as EchoLinkCOL_LCRA conference.

The Ama­teur Radio League of Cal­i’s HK5VD is in sup­port, under the guid­ance of Juan Manuel Yan­guas HK5AKN, the LCRA Emer­gency Coordinator.

The Columbian nation­al VHF repeater sys­tem is also involved as the last deliv­ery point try­ing to reunite fam­i­lies dis­placed by the hur­ri­cane and its aftermath.

The ARRL has sus­pend­ed nor­mal use of its Hiram Per­cy Max­im Memo­r­i­al Sta­tion W1AW, to assist in han­dling out­bound health-and-wel­fare traf­fic from Puer­to Rico.

The Sal­va­tion Army SATERN fre­quen­cy of 14.265 MHz and sim­i­lar activ­i­ties are hap­pen­ing else­where as des­per­ate peo­ple are try­ing all means to make con­tact with their loved ones.

Mean­while Cesar Pio San­tos HR2P, EMCOR IARU R2, has report­ed that radio ama­teurs are pro­vid­ing res­cue groups and author­i­ties with coor­di­na­tion help, and communications.

In Mex­i­co the sta­tion XE2A is in con­trol send­ing some radio ama­teurs to More­los to help there with a radio base sta­tion to be installed for emer­gency traf­fic and coordination.

Typ­i­cal of the vol­un­teer work in Mex­i­co is Jesus XE2JTC and Octavio XE2JUM, who have trav­elled with oth­ers in 4‑wheel-dri­ve vehi­cles car­ry­ing hydraulic equip­ment and units to sup­port breathing.

Author­i­ties in all affect­ed places say the recov­ery work is con­tin­u­ing and will do so for a long time.

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