Hams came to the rescue of Tsunami struck distressed people in India
When all the public telecommunication networks were extensively damaged in the tsunami struck Andaman & Nicobar Islands, ham radio became the only lifeline of communication from the tsunami affected areas to the mainland. Immediately after the tsunami struck on December 26, 2004, ham radio volunteers from different corners of the mainland rushed to the tsunami affected areas. These stations were activated from Portblair, Car Nicobar, Little Andaman and Campbell Bay area. A team of ham radio volunteers led by Shri Pravin Valera (VU2CPV) from Ahmedabad, Gujarat activated emergency stations at Campbell Bay area. Another team from National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR) went to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands to join hands with their already existing team of three hams who were incidentally operating from Portblair even much before the tsunami struck. A team of hams from Bangalore also went to the tsunami affected Islands, while their counterparts in the coastal areas of South India activated emergency stations from the relief camps, which was coordinated by Shri A.R. Prathap Kumar (VU2POP). Shri Nilanjan Majumdar (VU2HFR) of Calcutta VHF Amateur Radio Society also activated an emergency station at Kolkata. Many ham radio control rooms were operating from different parts of India. Shri Nilesh Rathod, VU2NLF and Shri Huzefa Merchant, VU2HIT activated an Emergency Ham Control station from the Maharashtra Manthranalaya on behalf of the Government of Maharashtra. The three member ham radio operators comprising of Mrs. Bharthi Prasad (VU4RBI), Sarath Babu (VU4NRO/VU3RSB) and Ram Mohan Suri (VU2MYH) were already operating a VU4 Dxpedition when the tsunami struck.
Dxpedition (expedition to a distant land) is an activity in which ham radio hobbyists venture forth to some corner of the globe that may be uninhabited, lacking ham radio activity, or just as an interesting place to go, for the primary purpose of providing the rest of the world with radio contacts. As the ham radio operation was prohibited in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the last 17 years, it was a rare opportunity for the hams throughout the world to contact this team of hams operating from the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
It was in the morning of December 26, 2004, that Mrs. Bharthi Prasad (VU4RBI) first reported through ham radio that the VU4 Dxpedition team survived the tsunami. Immediately, Mrs. Prasad and her team switched to emergency mode. One ham radio station was activated at the Deputy Commissioner�s office (Portblair) and another at Government Polytechnic College, Portblair, which was manned by Shri Sarath Babu, VU3RSB. Shri Ram Mohan, VU2MYH established an emergency station at Car Nicobar. Ham radio operators from various parts of India joined hands in the emergency operation to handle third party welfare messages from and to the mainland.
The NCSTC & Vigyan Prasar amateur radio station VU2NCT in New Delhi was also immediately activated as an emergency communication station and operational as an emergency control station for fifteen days playing an important role in handling and relaying welfare and relief messages. Relief messages for other governmental organizations were also handled by VU2NCT club station. Out of the innumerable messages handled by VU2NCT with people enquiring about the whereabouts and well being of their relatives stranded or missing in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 85% of the queries could be replied back based on information coming through ham radio from the tsunami affected areas. As of now, while filing this report, VU2JOS (Mr. Jose Jacob) was still operating from Hut Bay (Little Andaman). He reported that electricity and telephone service was yet to be restored even after 14 days of the disaster. No landlines were restored at Little Andaman. He could operate ham radio only with the help generator sets and solar panel.
Hams felt proud when they could pass on good news to the relatives of the people who have survived the tsunami. There were countless numbers of relatives across the country, who received phone calls with welfare messages, but they never knew that these messages could come to them only because of the tireless efforts of ham radio operators.
-Sandeep Baruah, VU2MUE
Media coverage on Disaster Communication by Hams:
The Tribune (Chandigarh, India):
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041229/delhi.htm
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041231/main3.htm#2
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050105/nation.htm#23
American Radio Relay League :
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/12/27/2/?nc=1 (mentioning VU2NCT)
Canada's National Amateur Radio Society:
http://www.rac.ca/news/world.htm#Andaman%20Islands
SouthGate amateur radio club:
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december/andaman_island .htm
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/jan2005/duo.htm Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA)
www.wiaq.com/ftp/wianews_64.mp3 (my voice here!)
http://www.benedictionblogson.com/
http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/12/30 /stories/2004123000350100.htm
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13640455
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php action=fullnews&id=53558
This story showed up in many papers:
http://athens-olympics-2004.newkerala.com/?action=fullnew s&id=53736
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/978465.cms
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/orlasectsunamiham01010105jan01,0,2210005.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/01/01/stories/200501010247020 0.htm
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php action=fullnews&id=54156
An phone-out report based on an interview with VU2MUE (New Delhi), VU2POP (Pop, Bangalore) and VU2UR (Arasu, Bangalore) was broadcasted by Wireless Institute of Australia -WIA National News Service:
www.wiaq.com/ftp/wianews_64.mp3
www.wiaq.com/ftp/wianews.mp3
(smaller 8 MB)
According to information from VU2HFR (Horey, Calcutta), Tara Bangla TV channel in Calcutta featured the ham radio communication in its evening telecast featuring Jose Jacob's (VU4/VU2JOS at Portblair) voice.I have also heard TV journalist Monidipa Banerjee's voice on NDTV channel reporting from the Andamans during one of its evening news telecasts on 28 December stating that governmental communication systems were a total failure in Andaman & Nicobar. I heard her emphasizing the need of ham radio communication system in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.