[Ares-races] Guam hammered by Supertyphoon Pongsona

[BillLennox@aol.com]

From:  <A HREF="www.arrl.org">www.arrl.org</A>

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The ARRL Letter
Vol. 21, No. 49
December 20, 2002
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==>HAM RADIO HAS ROLE IN GUAM RELIEF, RECOVERY

After a supertyphoon struck the Pacific Territory of Guam earlier this
month, an opportunity for hams to step in and provide emergency
communications never materialized, mostly due to a lack of fuel on the
stricken island. Nonetheless, ham radio is playing a role as Guam
residents get back on their feet.

"Most of the guys are trying to get themselves back together," said Dick
Manns, KH2G, "but one of the main problems immediately after the typhoon
was fuel for generators, as the tank farm was burning and no fuel could be
brought out and what little was available was being reserved for emergency
vehicles." The Marianas Amateur Radio Club has discussed setting up
emergency communications systems, he said, but insufficient funding has
hampered the effort.

Supertyphoon Pongsona hammered Guam December 8. Manns says FEMA, the US
military and the nongovernmental relief organizations have been helping a
lot in the typhoon's aftermath. But, it would have been nice, he
suggested, if local hams had been able to reciprocate with some
communications help using portable repeaters and packet radio. Another
problem: The storm pretty much devastated amateur antenna systems, he
said.

Duncan Campbell, KF6ILA/KH2, was one of the few hams able to get on the
air in the first few days after the storm hit, felling the island's lone
2-meter repeater tower in the process. Island hams used 2-meter FM simplex
as a major means of communication, Campbell said. The repeater reportedly
is back up. He was able to make several stateside HF to relay needs, but
fuel to run emergency generators for radio use became scarce, and he had
to shut down after December 10.

Manns said electrical power remains out for most residents and that only
about a third of the electrically powered water wells on Guam were
functional. Telephone service remains out "pretty much island-wide for
varying amounts of time" due to the power outages, he said. It's expected
to be several months until electrical power is fully restored on Guam.

At one point, despite an active listening campaign, Amateur Radio
operators on the air from Guam were simply not to be found. "We have six
amateurs engaged in this, almost our entire complement of HF operators,"
said ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Tim Hayes, NH0H, December 15. Amateurs on
Saipan monitored the agreed-upon emergency frequency of 7085 kHz almost
continuously for a week without hearing a single Guam signal, he said. The
Pacific Inter-Island Net on 14,320 kHz also made a special effort to
listen for Guam stations.

Meanwhile, the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and 28 US Government
agencies have combined to provide relief and recovery services. Reports
say 1750 homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable by the typhoon.

The Salvation Army is operating 12 temporary shelters and housing an
estimated 3000 residents left homeless. Salvation Army Team Emergency
Radio Network (SATERN) Coordinator Pat McPherson, WW9E, said SATERN this
week established contact between Guam and the SATERN national office in
Chicago via an EchoLink connection--a marriage of Amateur Radio and the
Internet. McPherson credited Al Paja, WH2Z, on Guam with helping to set up
the EchoLink connection.

Campbell, Manns and others have been able to maintain communication to the
outside world via the Internet after December 11. The fiber optic line
between Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands survived
the storm, and local Internet Service Providers were able to reconnect to
the backbone. With semi-reliable cellular telephone service available,
Campbell was able to post updates on local conditions to several Internet
bulletin boards.

The Guam Pacific Daily News Web site <http://www.guampdn.com/> also has
remained active and current. It continues to provide a major conduit for
those outside the island to leave messages for friends and relatives on
Guam.

Amateurs affiliated with the US Department of Health and Human Services'
Office of Emergency Response flew to Guam. "We're very active here with
disaster relief and have two sites operational on HF," said Steve "Sid"
Caesar, NH7C, the team's communications officer. Others on that team
include Satoshi Manabe, WH6CTO, and Jayson Kohama, WH6BXK. Caesar has been
in regular contact with amateurs in Hawaii over the past week.



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