[KYHAM] ARES & Local Response

Wed Oct 26 17:28:42 EDT 2005

On behalf the amateur community I commend anyone that has donated their time
in the gulf region this past month. If you have ever served in a disaster
area, communications are vital first.

As Jeff mentioned, many of the locals will be committed to friends and
family first and then after that is taken care of, will contribute to the
relief effort if they have capability. Also, remember that the local
amateurs if available will be involved in a disaster from the start. Going
24/7 from the start can be very tasking. Therefore, as always, outside
resources should be available, whether near or far, that is where MOUs come
in.

As stated many times in the past, every community or individual should be
able to depend upon itself to sustain itself for at least 72 hours. With
that said, every person and community should prepare for the worst and hope
for the best when a disaster approaches a community. Therefore we must
always put our best foot forward. If funding is available, then by all
means, make your EOC and response effort a hardened location if possible.
However, I would never put all my eggs in one basket because if that
location is knocked completely off the air, than your community has no
communications. Interoperability is very important. That is where the
amateur and MARS can shine, where we can work with any agency to provide
reliable communications. As with any emergency, you plan, you prepare and
mitigate for the worst and hope for the best. Maybe your worst scenario
doesn't happen to your community but to not put your best foot forward just
because you believe it won't survive, is not realistic.

Steve Morgan
Owensboro
W4NHO

-----Original Message-----
From: kyham-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:kyham-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Ron Dodson
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:58 PM
To: kyham at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [KYHAM] ARES & Local Response

I'll say a little now (to not stifle input from others), but will save
most comments for maybe a few days down the road. 

You ask a question which I am sure more than one of us has asked
themselves at some time in the ham life.  The point of home and family
first is a valid one.  This is why I preach so hard on having home and
family prepared well before any disaster.  Any one of us, myself
included, is worthless if all we will do is sit and worry about home in
a disaster.  You ARE better off waiting for others to come in if that is
going to be a roadblock for you!

The problem with waiting for others is that people can be dead before
they can get here. As an EMA Director, I tell my local families AND
responders, "All we have is us! If the stuff comes down tonight,
tomorrow or next week, we can only depend on ourselves." You need look
no farther than your TV to see what I mean. They knew days ahead each
time that this series of disasters was coming.  They even staged
equipment AND SUPPLIES! and look how long it took to get the response
from outside rolling in. 

Thanks for asking an excellent question. This is what KyHam was meant
for. Let's see what some others say, I may re-address this over the
weekend.

73, 
Ron, KA4MAP

-----Original Message-----
From: kyham-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:kyham-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jeff Martin
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:57 PM
To: kyham at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [KYHAM] ARES & Local Response

I read with interest the QST 3-part series of the Williamson County
Tennessee implementation of Winlink 2000 and other technologies in
support
of the local Emergency Management.  What a nice system; very elaborate
using
several different technologies and a lot of folks put in a lot of long
hours
to get it going.  But I wonder what the motivation was?

I recently spent almost two weeks assisting at the Gulf Coast in support
of
the Katrina relief effort; I worked with the Red Cross at several
shelters
dispatched through Montgomery AL.  The area I worked in had no
communications, all cells phones and land lines were inoperable.
Anything
that had an elaborate infrastructure was dead.  Most of the local Hams
were
not assisting with EM Comms, outsiders were.  The local Hams were taking
care of their families, etc.  This was my first time involved in
something
like this and I learned a lot but there has been something bothering me
I
wanted to get this groups thoughts on:

Should we not expect that in a Disaster  the local Hams will
"Stand-Down"
taking caring of their own personal needs and the needs of their
families?
For the most part this was the case at the Gulf.  Amateur's from outside
the
area came in, bringing with them portable equipment, and set up the
communications for the Red Cross to include a team from Colorado who set
up
a portable repeater.  Thus one may conclude that in non-disaster times
local
ARES groups should train locally but train to mobilize somewhere else
preparing to encounter no operational repeaters and no operational
commercial systems, etc.  I am confident is saying that if the
Williamson
system had been installed at the Gulf, it would have been rendered, for
the
most part, inoperative, mainly because of the repeaters and towers.
None of
the Ham repeaters were working until several days later because of bent
antennas and water damage.

So the question is, why such an elaborate system when it is most likely,
at
the time of greatest need, not going to be operational?  None of the
other
commercial systems at the Gulf were.  Are not the outsiders going to
come in
and provide communications while the locals are taking care of their
families?  When the outsiders come in, if part of the elaborate system
is
still working, will they have the digital equipment necessary to
communicate?

I believe what Williamson County has done is a great achievement for Ham
Radio (you have to start somewhere), I'm just not sure of its
practicality
in an actual emergency.  Am I wrong?

Jeff Martin, WB4JM

Bowling Green

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