Tidbit from DirectNIC

Fri Sep 2 23:16:11 UTC 2005

On Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 11:54:10AM -0400, Steven Champeon wrote:
> on Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 04:44:49PM +0100, Michael.Dillon at btradianz.com wrote:
> > -----snip-----
> > Fox News is reporting that there is an operation underway to refill 
> > chillers at the Bell South building down the street to keep phone service 
> > available to much of the southeast United States. That is apparently where 
> > all the firetrucks are going to in the area, in case you were wondering.
> > -----snip-----
> > 
> > It is interesting to note that it is possible to bring in diesel and water 
> > to resupply BellSouth yet it is impossible to bring in water and food for 
> > the residents, not to mention a fleet of small boats that could have 
> > prevented thousands from dying trapped inside their attics.
> 
> 1) potable water is probably somewhat different from the water used in
>    chillers or fire trucks
> 
> 2) phone service is, IMHO, one helpful pre-requisite to providing
>    emergency care and disaster relief

Last year after Ivan phone service played no roll in emergency care or
disaster relief.  Ham Radio operators, myself included, were stationed
at each shelter, the Red Cross and Salvation Army command centers, the
county EOC, hospitals, and some assigned to shadow important people such
as the mayor whereever they went.  Every agency participating had a
presence at the county EOC.  When an ambulance was needed at a shelter,
it was called for via ham radio, an operator at the EOC passed the message
to the ambulance dispatcher in the same room, they called the ambulance
out.

Those in their home and not in a shelter had no way to call for help but
the city and county themselves did not rely on phone service for
anything.  This is why the federal government gives so much valuable
radio spectrum to Ham Radio, more then any other service, the principal
purpose of Ham Radio is to provide emergency communications in times of
need.

> 3) the pictures I've been seeing have been full of boats, many of them
>    thrown up on land a few hundred feet from their berths
> 
> Not saying that the utter failure of DHS as an organization isn't on
> evidence here. Just saying that it's one thing to feed and water a plant
> and quite another to feed and water a human being, let alone tens of
> thousands of them.

Michael Greb
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