Amateur Radio Emergency Communication In Action

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Amateur Radio Emergency Communication In Action

• -- Amateur Radio in 12 May SiChuan Earthquake
• Chinese Radio Sports Association
• June, 2008

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1428 BJT, 12 May 2008, A magnitude-8.0
earthquake hit Chinas Sichuan area.
Wenchuan City, Center of quake
31d28.7N 103d34.8E
Chengdu City, Capital of Suchuan Province
103 km from quake center
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69,180 died and 374,008 injured in the disaster
as of 1200 BJT, June 19, 2008.
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80-90 of houses were crashed.
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The central government responded quickly. The
prime minister took off from Beijing within 2
hours after the quake heading for Chengdu. Army
rescue forces had to rush into the epicenter area
by foot due to road cut off.
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Ham radio operators around Chengdu, Mianyang area
setup their gears at earliest time .

• All other communication means failed in the
  center area and one amateur repeater was setup at
  13 May morning, to pass command for government
  instruction.

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Chengdu is about 100km from the epicenter and
was affected. Its main repeater survived and
more were put up soon to provide 100-200Km
communication on flat area.
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Right on May12, the day that quake happened, CRSA
called for emergency communication aids and
organized the national emergency networks on
7050KHz, 7060KHz and 14270KHz.

• Many amateur radio operators kept hourly
  monitoring to check what can help in the disaster
  relief.
• The emergency net frequencies were released on 27
  May 2008.

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The message was soon spread in the whole amateur
radio community
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JARL put the messages on JARL website to help to
clear frequencies for the emergency communication

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IARU R3 CRSA disaster communication liasion BA1RB
Fan Bin reported to R3 disaster communication
committee president VK3PC Jim in 3 times

• First report sent on 15th, May 2008.
• Second report sent on 20th, May 2008.
• The third report sent on 27th, May 2008.
• The report is listed on http//www.jarl.or.jp/iar
  u-r3/dcom/200805china.htm

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IARU web site also reported this event very
quickly
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Emergency communication service after the quake
became the hottest topic among BY hams, resulting
more than 5000 posts in a popular Chinese amateur
radio forum on this issue.
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Radio amateurs in action
Amateur radio was used to organize the car owners
in transportation of supplies and wounded
immediately after the quake
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An ARES command center was established in Chengdu
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Amateur radio was helping the relief efforts in
Zhaogongshan
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BD8ABM operated HF from his vehicle in epicenter
area, keeping communications with Chengdu
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Amateur radio repeater was setup at the
sheltering site in Hanwang
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Radio amateurs fought their ways into the
epicenter area and helped to set up
communications there
How the highway to Beichuan looked like
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BY8AA, club station in Chengdu, facilitated
emergency communication both on HF and U/VHF
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CRSA team set up BT8RC in Chengdu to help Chinese
Red Cross Foundation in HF communications
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BY8AA reported to BY1PK on 7050 KHZ
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Team of BY4RSA kept 247 operation in Nanjing as
HF emergency network control and helped to QSP
information between Chengdu and Beijing
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Local amateur radio operators in quake area
provided communication and transportation for
disaster relief
On the white banner Amateur Radio Relief Team
from Mianyang
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Ham radio operators from Beijing, Hebei, Wuhan,
Nanjing etc. went to Sichuan to help disaster
relief
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The most needed materials are tent and medicines.
Amateur radio operators across the country
contributed donations through various channels.
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Amateur radio operators continue to do disaster
relief in many ways
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CCTV, Beijing TV, and newspapers reported amateur
radio disaster relief
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CRSA, China amateur radio clubs have been
considering future actions for emergency
communication
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Action 1 Assist to setup school club stations in
Sichuan Area
Make awareness of amateur radio and train more
people gaining amateur radio communication skills.
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Action 2 Enforce regular SET

• CRSA has annual disaster communication SET in
  July.
• Encourage to participate SET held by IARU.
• Encourage field day operation.
• Enforce simple antenna and other equipments setup
  skills.

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Action 3 Establish disaster communication
standard procedure and organization combine the
domestic and international experiences and
documents

• Acquire international experiences.
• Come out documentation materials.
• Establish Chinese disaster communication
  procedure.
• Education to amateur radio operators.
• Cooperate with CRCF and other government
  organizations in disaster relief.

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CRSA would like to thank the following
organizations and individuals for providing
support of this presentation

• Sichuan radio sports association

• BG8AAS
• BG8BES
• BD8ATD
• BD8ABM
• BA1AA

• BD1PTA
• BA1HAM
• BD5RV
• BG1LLB
• BA1RB

Thanks for all international societies and
individuals for the kindness support of emergency
frequencies, encourages, and helps to Sichuan
earthquake disaster relief.
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THE END