ARLA/CLUSTER: Governo da India conta com os radioamadores locais para assegurar as comunicações de emergencia

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Disaster preparedness: APRO to use ham radio

To add teeth to the disaster preparedness, Assam Police Radio
Organisation (APRO) has decided to fall back on the use of amateur
radio

The Assam Tribune newspaper says:

The APRO is already working on a plan to regroup trained ham radio
operators once again after the Government of India lifted the ban on
its use recently.

At a seminar organised by APRO on ‘Restoration of Communication in a
Disaster Scenario - Role of First Responder’ here today, Director
General of Assam Police Mukesh Sahay opined that the use of
conventional and simple gadgets should never be done away with
completely as they are easy to handle in times of crisis.

“Disaster has increased both in number and gravity. Therefore,
preparing for the ‘unknown unknowns’ is very crucial from the
perspective of disaster preparedness, especially when all the
communication channels might run out of order. Trained ham radio
operators could come in handy at such times,” Sahay said.

Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Kula Saikia dwelt
at length on the significance of developing infrastructure independent
communication system, which may prove to be the most effective and the
only medium of communication at times of crisis.

“When all the conventional setups run out of order at the time of
disaster, it is the infrastructure-free communication that may prove
to be crucial,” Saikia said.

On ham radio, he urged the APRO to regroup the system.

S Ram Mohan VU2MYH, Director, National Institute of Amateur Radio,
Hyderabad, who played an active role in a number of post-disaster
mitigation exercises in India, said that inter-agency cooperation is
an unavoidable proposition when it comes to disaster preparedness.

He stressed the need for a well defined command structure, which makes
the operation swift.

“Good communication and informed coordination are quintessential,” he added.

Source Assam Tribune
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/mdetails.asp?id=feb2417/city050

National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR)
http://www.niar.org/
https://www.facebook.com/NIAR.org