VU2.IN - India Amateur HAM Radio & Electronics

Natural & Man made Disasters have struck at various parts of the world leading to loss of human life and damage to property. Here is a list of some disasters where Amateur Radio operators came forward to work as volunteers to assist in emergency communication when infrastructure dependent communication modes such as mobiles and land lines failed.

United States

• February tornado outbreak - 2008
• Oregon Storms - 2007
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita --2005
• Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne in Florida -- 2004
• Severe weather in Virginia -- May 2004
• Tornadoes in Illinois -- April 2004
• Earthquake in Central California -- December 2003
• Hurricane Isabel -- September 2003
• Northeast blackout -- August 2003
• Midwest tornadoes -- May 2003
• Shuttle Columbia recovery effort -- February 2003
• World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks -- September 2001
• Flooding in Texas and Louisiana (Storm Allison) -- June 2001
• Fires in Los Alamos, New Mexico -- May 2000
• Hurricane Floyd -- September 1999
• Hurricane Mitch in Central America -- November 1998
• "500-Year Flood," Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn. - April 1997
• Western U.S. floods - January 1997
• Hurricane Fran - September 1996
• TWA plane crash - July 1996
• Oklahoma City Bombing - April 1995

India

• Latur Earthquake 1993
• Orissa Super Cyclone 1999
• Gujarat Earthquake 2001
• Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004
• Aila Cyclone 2009

Other Global Disasters

Though it is not known about participation from Amateur Radio community for the disaster listed below on the global front (which includes some of the tragedy already listed above) - there is every possibility that Amateur Radio Operators in the region would have come forward to assist local administration for effective communication.

• Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 1948: earthquake (100,000 dead)
• Assam, India, 1950: earthquake (1,526 dead)
• Holland, 1953: Sea flood (1,794 dead)
• Iran, 1953: Rain flood (10,000 dead)
• Louisiana, USA, 1957: Hurricane (400 dead)
• Worldwide, 1957: Influenza pandemic (about four million dead)
• Japan, 1958: Typhoon (5,000 dead)
• Ethiopia, 1958: Famine (100,000 dead)
• China, 1958-61: Famine (38 million dead)
• Morocco, 1960: earthquake (10,000 dead)
• Chile, 1960: 9.5 earthquake and tsunami (5,700 dead)
• Mt Huascaran, Peru, 1962: Volcano eruption (3,000)
• Skopje, Yugoslavia, 1963: earthquake (1,066)
• India, 1965: Famine (1.5 million dead)
• Worldwide, 1968: Influenza pandemic (about 750,000 dead)
• China, 1969: Famine (20 million dead)
• North Peru, 1970: 7.8 earthquake (66,000 dead)
• Bangladesh, 1970: Sea flood (200-500,000 dead)
• Vietnam, 1971: Red River flood (100,000 dead)
• Managua, Nicaragua, 1972: earthquake flood (10,000 dead)
• Bangladesh, 1974: floods (28,000 dead)
• Honduras, 1974: hurricane (5,000 dead)
• Ethiopia, 1974: famine (200,000 dead)
• Haicheng, China, 1975: 7.0 earthquake (10,000 dead)
• Tangshan, China, 1976: 8.0 earthquake (750,000 dead)
• Guatemala, 1976: earthquake (23,000 dead)
• Cambdia, 1976-78: famine (700,000 dead)
• Andhra Pradesh, India, 1977: cyclone (10,000 dead)
• Caribbeans, 1979: Hurricane (2,000 dead)
• Mexico, 1982: volcanic eruption (1,800 dead)
• Yemen, 1982: earthquake (3,000 dead)
• Bhopal, India, 1984: Chemical pollution (3,800 dead)
• Mozambique, 1984: famine (100,000 dead)
• Ethiopia, 1984: Famine (900,000 dead)
• Ciudad de Mexico, 1985: 8.1 earthquake (9,500 dead)
• Colombia, 1985: Volcano (25,000 dead)
• Armenia, 1988: earthquake (55,000 dead)
• Colombia, 1985: eruption of Nevado del Ruiz (23,000 dead)
• Bangladesh, 1988: Monsoon flood (1,300 dead)
• Gilan and Zanjan, Iran, 1990: 7.7 earthquake (35,000 dead)
• Bangladesh, 1991: tsunami (138,000 dead)
• Latur, India, 1993: earthquake (22,000 dead)
• Kobe, Japan, 1995: earthquake (5,500 dead)
• Niger, 1995: meningitis epidemic (3,000 dead)
• Chicago, USA, 1995: heatwave (739 dead)
• North Korea, 1995-98: Floods and famine (3.5 million dead)
• West Africa, 1996: meningitis outbreak (25,000 dead)
• Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 1996: earthquake (??,000 dead)
• Papua New Guinea, 1998: Tsunami (2,200 dead)
• Yangtze Kiang, China, 1998: flooding (3,600 dead)
• Central America, 1998: Hurricane Mitch and floods (12,000 dead)
• Afghanistan, 1998: Earthquakes (10,000 dead)
• Colombia, 1999: earthquake (1,185 dead)
• Izmit, Turkey, 1999: earthquake (17,000 dead)
• Taiwan, 1999: 7.6 earthquake (2,400 dead)
• Orissa, India, 1999: Cyclone (7,600 dead)
• Venezuela, 1999: Floods (20,000 dead)
• Vietnam, 1999: Floods (750 dead)
• Gujarat, India, 2001: earthquake (20,000 dead)
• El Salvador, 2001: earthquake (850 dead)
• Afghanistan, 2002: earthquake (2,500 dead)
• Algeria, 2003: earthquake (2,266 dead)
• Asia, 2003: SARS (744 dead, mostly in China)
• Andhra Pradesh, India, 2003: Heat wave (1,300 dead)
• France, Spain and Italy, 2003: Heat wave (50,000 dead)
• Bam, Iran, 2003: earthquake (26,300 dead)
• Al-Hoceima, Morocco, 2004: earthquake (571 dead)
• Haiti and Dominican Republic, 2004: rains (2,400 dead)
• Philippines, 2004: typhoon (1,000 dead)
• China, 2004: floods (1,300 dead)
• Southeast Asia, 2004: tsunamis caused by 9.0 earthquake (111,000 dead in Indonesia, 31,000 in Sri Lanka, 10,700 in India, 5,400 in Thailand, 68 in Malaysia, 82 in the Maldives, 300 in Myanmar and 150 in Somalia, including 1,500 Scandinavian tourists, and dozens of Germans, Italians, Dutch, etc)
• Zarand, Iran, 2005: earthquake (500 dead)
• Nias, Indonesia, 2005: 8.7 earthquake (1000 dead)
• Mumbai, India, 2005: monsoon (1,000 dead)
• China, 2005: floods (567 dead)
• Louisiana and Mississippi, USA, 2005: "Katrina" hurricane (1,836 dead)
• Niger, 2005: famine (10,000? dead)
• Kashmir, 2005: earthquake (80,500 dead, of which 79,000 in Pakistan and 1,350 in India)
• Central America, 2005: floods (1,400 dead, of which 1,200 in Guatemala)
• Philippines, 2006: mudslides (1,800)
• Java, 2006: earthquake (4,300)
• Java, 2006: tsunami (520)
• India and Pakistan, aug 2006: floods (300)
• Southern Ethiopia, aug 2006: floods (800)
• Fujian, China, aug 2006: typhoon (260)
• Indian subcontinent, june 2007: storms (228 in Pakistan, 500 in India, 600 in Bangladesh, unknown in Afghanistan)
• Hungary, july 2007: heatwave (500)
• North Korea, august 2007: floods (1,000?)
• Peru, august 2007: earthquake (540)
• Bangladesh, november 2007: cyclone (4,000)
• Afghanistan, february 2008: cold wave (926)
• Myanmar/Burma, may 2008: cyclone (135,000)
• China, may 2008: earthquake (70,000)
• Haiti, august 2008: hurricane (500)
• India and Bangladesh, september 2008: floods (635)
• Abruzzo, Italy, april 2009: earthquake (300)

What do Amateur Radio operators do during and after disasters?

Amateur Radio operators set up and operate organized communication networks locally for governmental and emergency officials, as well as non-commercial communication for private citizens affected by the disaster. Amateur Radio operators are most likely to be active after disasters that damage regular lines of communications due to power outages and destruction of telephone, cellular and other infrastructure-dependent systems.

How do Amateur Radio operators help local administration?

Many radio amateurs are active as communications volunteers with local public safety organizations. In addition, in some disasters, radio frequencies are not coordinated among relief officials and Amateur Radio operators step in to coordinate communication when radio towers and other elements in the communications infrastructure are damaged.

Read More:

• ARRL: Backgrounder: Amateur Radio Emergency Communication

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