India black­out affects millions.
In the world’s worst black­out in recent times pow­er was cut to 700 mil­lion peo­ple in India.
Jayu Bhide VU2JAU reports that the North-East grid failed due to a fault in the plant and 20 states were affect­ed by the pow­er fail­ure. Work to restore the pow­er was in progress.
Nation­al Coor­di­na­tor for Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in India, Jayu VU2JAU said that New Del­hi had its pow­er cut for 12 hours yesterday.
He said in the evening pow­er was restored to some parts of Del­hi and the sur­round­ing areas. The work to restore was still in progress.
“Hams in and around the affect­ed areas were ready for the emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tion required dur­ing pow­er cuts,” said Jayu VU2JAU.
They pro­vid­ed emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions dur­ing the out­age, all voice repeaters were in order and did not fail despite the heavy duty back-up pow­er needed.
He said, “Hams will still be on their toes until com­plete pow­er is restored.” Fur­ther reports on the cri­sis are expect­ed lat­er. Luck­i­ly, said Jayu VU2JAU, “Every­thing went well and no major casu­al­ty was reported”.
Up to 20 of Indi­a’s 28 states were plunged into dark­ness as sup­pli­ers failed to meet the grow­ing demand caused by air-con­di­tion­ing units, flat-screen TVs and oth­er gadgets.
Hun­dreds of trains failed, traf­fic lights were out, sur­gi­cal oper­a­tions can­celled, and under­ground min­ers were trapped when their lifts broke down. The black­out raised con­cern about Indi­a’s infrastructure.
— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mit­tee and Jayu Bhide VU2JAU, Nation­al Coor­di­na­tor for Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in India.