Philip­pine Earth­quake response
Effects con­tin­ue across the cen­tral Philip­pines after a 6.8 mag­ni­tude earth­quake struck trig­ger­ing land­slides with dozens of peo­ple killed and many trapped in top­pled homes.
Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer for IARU soci­ety PARA, Eddie Valdez DU1EV said ham radio oper­a­tors are now active in com­mu­ni­ca­tions assistance.
Eddie DU1EV said those near the epi­cen­tre of the earth­quake in the DU7 and DU6 call areas are active. They have cho­sen to use the VHF band for communications.
Their ser­vices includ­ed mes­sage han­dling with phone com­mu­ni­ca­tions cut, wide­spread pow­er out­ages, bridges and oth­er infra­struc­ture damaged.
The earth­quake in a nar­row strait between the heav­i­ly pop­u­lat­ed island provinces of Negros and Cebu hit around lunchtime on Monday.
There had been more than 200 after­shocks, some near­ly as strong, caus­ing fur­ther panic.
This came after typhoon storms swept the South­ern Philip­pines on Decem­ber 16 to 18 with a heavy loss of lives and radio ama­teurs help­ing out.
— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man, IARU Region 3, Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Committee.