Updates on the Chile Earthquake are available here. Note that, there is much less focus on Emergency Communications than the reports for Haiti. Most likely because the Chile government has been more involved in the needs assesment on the ground and defining their own requirements.
Archive for the ‘2010’ Category
Chile – UN updates
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Chile Earthquake – Update 3
Saturday, March 6th, 2010The following information was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.
The following information has been relayed from Dr. Galdino Besomi,
CE3PG, President of the Radio Club de Chile (RCCH) by Jorge Sierra,
LU1AS, Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator of Area G in IARU Region 2.
The situation in Chile is very complex due to continuing aftershocks in
the area. RECNA and RCCH networks are working in coordination with the Army of Chile handling information about locating missing persons, condition of roads and support for the emergency administration.The frequencies that must be kept clear are:
40 meters: 7050, 7095
80 meters: 3738
20 meters: 14200Other frequencies could be in use, especially in 40 meters. Before using
any frequency it`s very important to make sure it`s free.
Chile Earthquake – Update 2
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010The following information was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.
The following is a summary of the information received from Reinaldo Leandro President of IARU Region 2 and Jorge Sierra, LU1AS who is the Region 2 Area co-ordinator covering Chile.
Reinaldo talked by phone with Doctor Galdino Besomi CE3PG Radio Club de Chile (RCCH) president.
After the earthquake struck, an Emergency Net was activated across the whole country, first on VHF and then in HF. All the board of the Chile National Society and local club members are actively working in close coordination with civil and military authorities.
Three days after the earthquake the request for news about people in the affected countryside areas is one the main activity occupying the radio amateurs.
Jorge confirms that there are several frequencies in 40 meters receiving traffic to try and locate people from stations in Chile and Argentina.
They most activity is on 7050, 7060, 7088, 7095 and others and stations are monitoring these frequencies.
Almost all the traffic heard is related to locating people, but it is not easy to find them because the situation in the small towns near Santiago is very difficult, they don`t have electricity, telephone lines or cell phones; emergency communications stations are running on batteries.
As you may have seen on news broadcasts, the airport at Santiago is again operative but with some restrictions. The government asked other countries in the region not to send help until they could review the situation and ask for their exact needs.
Chile Earthquake – Update 1
Sunday, February 28th, 2010The following information was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.
The Tsunami warnings for the Pacific Ocean have been lifted. There was a Tsunami with waves from 1-2m which crossed the Ocean to Japan. Measured wave heights can be seen at
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2010/pacific.2010.02.28.093706.txtInformation received from Jorge,LU1AS confirms the request to keep the following frequencies clear in the area;
3738, 3750, 7050, 7060, 7095, 14200, 14300 and 14350kHz.I hope to have more information later today.
Chile Earthquake – First Information
Saturday, February 27th, 2010The following information was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.
An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale hit Chile at 0634UTC today (27th February).
I am now receiving information that the local emergency communications group “Red Chilena Nor Austral de Servicio (RECNA)” is active and some emergency communications activities are taking place, mostly with Argentina. Jorge Sierra, LU1AS who is the IARU-R2 Area Emergency Co-Ordinator is asking that the following frequencies are kept clear;
7095, RECNA Control Station
Emergency Traffic has also been heard on 7050, 7060 and 7095 with stations trying to contact Chile seeking information about people.Chile is also known to use the following frequencies for emergency communication;
3750, 3738, 7050, 7095, 14200, 14350, 21200, 21350, 28300, 28500kHz.Since a Tsunami warning is in effect for some countries in the Pacific it would also be useful to keep IARU Region 2 and Region 3 Centre of Activity frequencies clear in case other countries become involved, these are;
Region 2 3750, 3785, 7060, 7240, 7290, 14300, 18160, 21360
Region 3 3600, 7110, 14300, 18160, 21360Japanese state broadcaster NHK is indicating that if a Tsunami was to affect that country it would hit about 22 hours after the initial earthquake. Australia has issues Tsunami warnings for parts of their country. We should know soon if a wide area tsunami has been created, a prediction of arrival times can be found at
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2010/pacific.2010.02.27.154316.txt
Check the main site of http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/ for updates.
AREN Meeting
Monday, February 8th, 2010The AREN Annual meeting took place last weekend in Clonmel County Tipperary. The agenda included:
- Review of previous years activities
- Update on the Major Emergency Management Process
- Update on training materials
- Update on ARENs use of maps and mapping data.
- IARU HF emergency operating procedure workshop
- APRS workshop
- Update on use of NBEMS and Digital Modes on shortwave NVIS
The AREN Mobile Command Post (MCP) was in attendance for everyone to inspect. and a a wide ranging discussion on various aspects of Emergency Communications was had. Many thanks to all who participated and I look forward to working with everyone during 2010.
John Ronan, EI7IG
Amateur Radio in Haiti
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Interesting report from Bruce Hepburn, ZR6BDH, who has just returned from Haiti as part of the South African Rescue Team. He outlines the teams role, their own communications, what range he had with his HF Radio and simple antenna set up.
AREN Meeting.
Thursday, January 28th, 2010All AREN members are requested to attend the meeting in the Clonmel Park Hotel, poppyfield retail park, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. The meeting will be commencing at 10am Saturday the 6th of February, and is scheduled to finish at 5pm.
Any non members are welcome to attend, though please contact John, EI7IG (contact details) beforehand to let us know, as we have to indicate numbers to the hotel in advance.
Haiti, Final Update
Friday, January 22nd, 2010The following update was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.
From 1800UTC 22 January the HF frequencies used to respond to the
immediate needs of the Haiti Earthquake, 14.300MHz, 14.265MHz ,
7.045MHz, 7.065MHz, 7.265MHz, 3.720MHz, 3.977MHz will return to normal
use. The groups who have been passing messages on those frequencies will
revert to monitoring mode or their normal operations.There are still a number of radio amateurs in the country attached to
various relief groups who may still be heard on the amateur bands on a
number of frequencies according to their particular needs to maintain
contact with their home countries.Please maintain the normal procedures of;
* Listen before transmitting
* If you hear any station passing emergency traffic then leave the
frequency clear and avoid causing QRM.Thanks to everyone for their assistance during this emergency.
Haiti Update No. 6
Monday, January 18th, 2010The following update was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.
Dear friends,
I just finish a telephone conversation with Rafael HI8ROX who provide
the following information:1) Repeaters
Port au Prince (Haiti) repeater:
146.880 -600 tone 100Jimaní (Dominican Republic) repeater
147.970 tone 100 simplex
They will work Thursday morning on this repeater including changing the
antenna to improve coverage.Both repeaters are working well and usable even with handheld.
Rafael ask the amateur radio operators going to Haiti to take note of
the frequencies.2) Radio Club Dominicano amateurs are still in Jumaní, when many wounded
are arriving. They are helping Haitians to contact their relatives and
friends outside of Haiti but they can´t help the world to find specific
individuals in Haiti. They are receiving many emails with such request
but security and road conditions make impossible to look for specific
individuals in Haiti at the present.3) Radio Club Dominicano is updating their Facebook account (in Spanish)
regularly.We are updating news on Haiti received from our Member Societies on our
Twitter account www.twitter.com/iaru_r2 and on our Webpage
www.iaru-r2.org that now has section for Emergency Communications.73
Ramon Santoyo V., XE1KK
Secretary IARU Region2
xe1kk@iaru.org
www.iaru-r2.org
