Transcript Slide 1

ARES: After the Catastrophe
Kay Craigie N3KN
First Vice President, ARRL
GAREC-2006
Because most disasters are local,
the ARRL’s traditional decentralized
response is usually appropriate and
effective.
In extraordinary disasters such as
the Gulf coast hurricanes of 2005,
however, the scale and intensity of
the disaster overwhelm local
Amateur Radio resources.
Local Amateurs may be disaster
victims, unable to volunteer for some
time after the disaster occurs.
Local Amateur Radio infrastructure,
such as repeaters, may be destroyed.
Meanwhile, a window of usefulness has
opened for Amateur Radio – the time
between the onset of the disaster and the
restoration of conventional
communications.
National-level relief agencies ask the
ARRL to dispatch hundreds of Amateurs to
the disaster zone for communications
assistance.
How prepared are we to mobilize large
numbers of Amateur communicators
during extraordinary disasters?
The ARRL’s traditional decentralized
approach is not well-suited to what is
expected of a national organization when
extraordinary disasters occur.
Success in the field has not
blinded us to shortcomings at the
national level.
Changes began during Katrina
• Interdepartmental staff leadership
team formed at ARRL HQ
• HQ staff & Section Managers in the
disaster zone held daily conference
calls
• Regional coordination
of field volunteers
After the hurricanes . . .
• Field volunteers’ after-action
comments were reviewed.
• ARRL HQ staff leadership team was
interviewed for comments and
suggestions.
• Improvisation, creativity, and luck
must be combined with planning!
Lessons learned, actions taken
• Improved infrastructure,
planning, staff training
at ARRL HQ & W1AW
• Committee of field
volunteer officials recommends
new national-level capabilities
• Discussions ongoing with
national-level served agencies
ARRL is changing not so much
what we do as how we do it
• National database of ARES operators
willing & qualified to deploy rapidly
outside home states
• New regional emergency coordinator
function
• Equipment kits ready for deployment
from ARRL HQ
Challenges for the future
Balancing our growing
professional respectability
and emphasis on formal
training with the creative,
improvisational spirit of
Amateur Radio.
Challenges for the future
Using the story of Amateur
Radio’s emergency
communications success in
support of advocacy goals
Amateur Radio’s success,
contrasted to government’s
failures, earned us both
friends and enemies
The spirit of Amateur
Radio in the Gulf
coast disaster, in the
volunteers’ own
words . . . .
Each member of the four-man team felt we
made a contribution to the relief effort of the
Red Cross. We would respond again to an
ARRL call for volunteers. We are ARRL
ARES. This is our commitment. – KC7KPG
We did have one person whose grandfather
was trapped at home. Although the Red Cross
tried many times to get through by phone, it
was ham radio that came through in
contacting the proper people to get him
out. – KD5JJP
I have never seen such misery and devastation.
People (thousands) were sleeping in fields or
under any shelter they could find – over 2
weeks after the hurricane – and thousands are
still out in the open. People lost everything they
had – many just had the clothes they were
wearing. – WB2YIP
Before leaving I told Martha, my wife, that if all
that equipment didn’t come back with me, we
would just consider it a donation to the cause.
– W5ALL
Fifty miles inland I found churches feeding the
populace with no outside relief. A 40 meter relay and
2 phone calls later a schedule was made and by 9 am
the next day vehicles were en route with food and
water. A very humbling experience overall. You don't
know how good you've got it until you see someone
who's lost it all. – KC5FJZ
She kept saying “I need to go home and take a shower
and get fresh clothes on.” So I asked her where home
was. She told me. I said, “Your home is gone.” She
said, “I found these clothes as I was walking around.”
She had no shoes on her feet. – K9APR
I assisted and worked with the local Amateur
Radio net control operators directly to exchange
vital information about the needs, and welfare, and
about vital information of all the parish shelters as
well as assisting local evacuees in getting and
finding shelter locations / clothing / lost family
members for them. We worked 12 to 14 hour days
in 90 degree heat (over 30C), with every 8th day
off if you asked for it. – KC8QMH
They know they made a difference, and, when the
need arises, they’ll be back. – KB1LQV
For 25 years ham radio in my life
has been this vessel to help my
neighbors – whether on the same
street where I live, or thousands
of miles away. We are people of
the world, not just hams.
– N1TAI