Hurricane Dorian (2019)

[K3MRI]

I have not heard of anyone going down to the Bahamas after Dorian. Has anyone else heard anything?

[VE6RWP]

Various google searches show individuals helping out but I could not find anything that appears to be well organized.  ARRL was preparing and organizing for Florida to be hit, but there is nothing about the Bahamas.  Mercy Corps. seems to be in the lead to supply AID. The ITU is supplying infrastructure communications equipment  see https://news.itu.int/hurricane-dorian-itu-sends-emergency-telecoms-assistance-to-the-bahamas/

 

[K3MRI]

16 hours ago, VE6RWP said:

Various google searches show individuals helping out but I could not find anything that appears to be well organized.  ARRL was preparing and organizing for Florida to be hit, but there is nothing about the Bahamas.  Mercy Corps. seems to be in the lead to supply AID. The ITU is supplying infrastructure communications equipment  see https://news.itu.int/hurricane-dorian-itu-sends-emergency-telecoms-assistance-to-the-bahamas/

 

What frustrates me is that there are volunteer self-deployed search and rescue helicopter pilots that went down, there is the José-Andres world kitchen effort, MSF went, and hams... nothing. The entire comms infrastructure is down! If we can't help in this scenario, when will we be helpful? 🤐 Then again, I'm as much to blame as anyone else. I have all these ideas on how to organize this type of deployment and I do nothing.

[VE6RWP]

When it was Porto Rico, the ARRL was asked by the Red Cross and a call went out.  But the Bahamas is not a U.S. protectorate or state and maybe this is the basis for the decision not to put out the call for HAMS to help?  I am not an ARRL member so I can't ask them what's up but a member needs to ask what the reasoning is.  Maybe no-one asked for help? 

[K3MRI]

1 hour ago, VE6RWP said:

When it was Porto Rico, the ARRL was asked by the Red Cross and a call went out.  But the Bahamas is not a U.S. protectorate or state and maybe this is the basis for the decision not to put out the call for HAMS to help?  I am not an ARRL member so I can't ask them what's up but a member needs to ask what the reasoning is.  Maybe no-one asked for help? 

Where to begin? I won't give a full exposé here, but suffice it to say that there is currently no credible, useable, deployable amateur radio emergency response mechanism. Yes, there are purported organizations that do so, notably ARRL/ARES, but for now, neither they nor the others, have found the means or even the mission. Speak to the powers that be, as I have, and you will get a muddled response blaming some other party. It's the fault of the clients. It's because we are under-trained and under-equipped. It's because we're 'amateurs'. Tell that to the Cajun Navy guys who deployed. How about when Doctors Without Borders started up. Anyway, like I said, I won't give my version of the full story today but suffice it to say that comms are still out in many parts of the Bahamas. 😟

[VE6RWP]

On 9/23/2019 at 4:36 AM, K3MRI said:

Where to begin? I won't give a full exposé here, but suffice it to say that there is currently no credible, useable, deployable amateur radio emergency response mechanism. Yes, there are purported organizations that do so, notably ARRL/ARES, but for now, neither they nor the others, have found the means or even the mission. Speak to the powers that be, as I have, and you will get a muddled response blaming some other party. It's the fault of the clients. It's because we are under-trained and under-equipped. It's because we're 'amateurs'. Tell that to the Cajun Navy guys who deployed. How about when Doctors Without Borders started up. Anyway, like I said, I won't give my version of the full story today but suffice it to say that comms are still out in many parts of the Bahamas. 😟

There are Search and Rescue groups that are amateurs and they are used as "professional" organizations.  What is it they do that ARES does not? Perhaps it is the level of training and commitment.  They are a story that ARES as an organization needs to study and see how they go to the level of reputation they have. I was at a Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada Conference with our local ARES and radio club letting them know what we can provide for them as a service and the one thing that stuck out the most is that they train for their volunteerism much harder than we do.  They have certifications for all aspects of their hobby, High angle rescue, helicopter evacuation of a body, advanced rope rescue etc. We tend to get a certificate or ticket to operate and  a couple of ICS courses and that seems to be it.  Maybe we need to look at the ARES training and be more specific so that we can certify the skills we use to show competency.  This however is a bigger discussion than a quick note, but it is perhaps one that needs to be started at a much higher level like ARRL and RAC or the ITU.  The big question is what would gain us the respect that we have apparently lost.

[K3MRI]

@VE6RWP, I agree 100%!!! with your last post. You hit it on the nail. I'll give your last point some more thought, it's a well placed question!!

Quote

The big question is what would gain us the respect that we have apparently lost.

I will, if I may, add something to the question, however: "What would allow amateur radio operators to leverage their numbers and qualifications to better help their fellow human beings, in need, during an emergency?"