From: Jim Lin­ton, VK3PC
Sent: Fri­day, August 28, 2009 11:43 AM
Sub­ject: Typhoon Morak CTARL ARES activ­i­ty ends

The CTARL reports that the job of ham radio oper­a­tors sup­port­ing the res­cue and con­struc­tion activ­i­ty has con­clud­ed after qui­et a busy period. 

Ted BV2OO and the CTARL ARES team have returned safe­ly from the moun­tain area where they had been assist­ing oth­ers includ­ing a med­ical team. 

Most of major cel­lu­lar and land line phone ser­vices, plus satel­lite phones have been restored and there is no fur­ther use need­ed of ham radio communications. 

More details about the emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­vid­ed by ham radio, both inside and out­side the dis­as­ter hit area, are not imme­di­ate­ly available. 

The gov­ern­ment is also begin­ning to pro­vide tem­po­rary hous­ing for many peo­ple who lost their homes dur­ing the typhoon, and it has a very dif­fi­cult and long recon­struc­tion effort ahead of it. 

Many moun­tain roads are in need of repair which will take many months or years, and some may nev­er be able to be re-opened. 

Up to 1000 peo­ple were believed to have been buried as many vil­lages were cov­ered with rock and mud. 

Some 320 schools were dam­aged. The total cost of the recon­struc­tion is esti­mat­ed to be $3000M USD. 

(Ralph BV2FB CTARL Liai­son Offi­cer and Jim VK3PC IARU R3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Officer) 

---

From: Jim Lin­ton, VK3PC
Sent: Fri­day, August 14, 2009 6:55 AM
Sub­ject: ARES team safe after tyhoon dis­as­ter scare

Wel­fare con­cerns about a Chi­nese Taipei Ama­teur Radio League (CTARL) emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions group have been allayed, with the lat­est report that the team, has made it safe, to dry ground. 

The ARES mem­bers Ted Yu BV2OO, Solo Chen BM5ABU and K.L. Wu BM6AHR and two doc­tors and four nurs­es flew by heli­copter into amid rough tur­bu­lent weath­er to reach Chin-Ho (part of the Tau-Yuan Zone, Kao- Hsiong City) that was sur­round­ed by flood waters. 

They are pro­vid­ing sup­port to the res­cue and relief effort in response to the Typhoon Morakot dis­as­ter that has an expect­ed death toll of sev­er­al hun­dred with thou­sands more are home­less in what are the worst floods in Tai­wan in 50 years. 

Quick­ly set­ting up the ham radio sta­tion equip­ment the ARES team began using the 40m band, with their sit­u­a­tion report com­mu­ni­ca­tions help­ing the res­cue and recov­ery operation. 

A report by the IARU CTARL Liai­son Offi­cer, Ralph Yang BV2FB said the radio traf­fic includ­ed details of need­ed med­i­cine, fresh water and food supplies. 

The ARES team had to flee for their own safe­ty when a lake broke its banks and threat­ened to inun­date where they had set up. 

They made it to a cab­bage field where they slept before resum­ing their emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions efforts to tell every­one they were ‘alive and kick­ing’. ARES was last known to be using 7.080MHz.

Also assist­ing in the emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions effort, from their sta­tions on dry land are BX2AN in Taipei, BV6GQ BV7GC, BV7BU from Kau-Siung and BX4AA from Tai-Chung. 

In oth­er sup­port, BX2AL has been organ­is­ing resources and sup­plies for the Taipei base sta­tion (above), BG7MTJ from Sen-Zen Chi­na and BG4ABO in Shan-Hai China. 

The dis­as­ter recov­ery is con­tin­u­ing with many vil­lages in moun­tain areas buried under metres of rock and mud. 

(Ralph Yang BV2FB CTARL IARU Liai­son and Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Commmittee)