Philip­pine Earthquake
Com­mu­ni­ca­tions have been set up on HF as the emer­gency activ­i­ty of ama­teur radio becomes estab­lished in the earth­quake and land­slide hit areas.
Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer for IARU soci­ety PARA, Eddie Valdez DU1EV said that Ham Emer­gency Radio Oper­a­tions (HEROs) has acti­vat­ed the emer­gency fre­quen­cies of 144.740 MHz and 7.095 MHz.
Eddie DU1EV said “They have estab­lished their com­mand cen­tre on board the Philip­pine Coast Guard search and res­cue ves­sel BRP Davao del Norte. HEROs have been busy for­ward­ing traf­fic from the dis­as­ter areas to Cebu and Manila.”
Res­cue work­ers are search­ing for sur­vivors after the 6.7‑magnitude quake earth­quake killed dozens of peo­ple. The death toll is 43 but res­cuers are still search­ing for miss­ing peo­ple in the rub­ble and landslides.
It struck just before noon local time on Mon­day in the heav­i­ly pop­u­lat­ed islands of Negros and Cebu in the country’s cen­tral region.
Eddie DU1EV said that the traf­fic han­dled includ­ed main­ly respond­ing to over­seas inquiries for per­sons look­ing for infor­ma­tion about their fam­i­ly and friends in the earth­quake areas.
He said “As land lines and cel­lu­lar phones have been errat­ic, ama­teur radio has pro­vid­ed a vital link. Among the active HEROs are RJ DU7RJA, Roy DU7DDJ, DW7XKS and, DW7RDX.
“Alvin DU1AJ/7 has set up his sta­tion so that it could act as relay for the HEROs at the earth­quake strick­en areas. He receives and sends traf­fic via HF, VHF, echolink and Facebook.
“In Mani­la, HEROs oper­a­tives Butch DU1RP and Lito DU1PA have set up camp at the Nation­al Dis­as­ter Risk Reduc­tion Man­age­ment Coun­cil (NDRRMC) under the Depart­ment of Defence.”
They are active on HF and they act as liai­son between the dis­as­ter area and the NDRRMC com­mand cen­tre in Mani­la, report­ed Eddie DU1EV.
— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man, IARU Region 3, Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Committee.