Christchurch New Zealand

Thu Feb 24 14:39:09 UTC 2011

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:08:39AM -0800, JC Dill wrote:
>  On 22/02/11 10:38 PM, Joe Hamelin wrote:
> >The other CERT:  Community Emergency Response Team.
> 
> >https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about.shtm
> 
> +1 for CERT.  I also think that taking a CERT class is a great way to 
> re-evaluate your own network emergency procedures.  You may find new 
> ways to prepare for network disasters, and to triage damage when a 
> network disaster occurs.

Agreed on CERT. 

I diffidently suggest that amateur radio licensing, together with some
battery-operated gear (think 2-meter or 70-cm handy-talkies at a minimum
for short-haul comms, HF gear for longer-haul) may be Very Good Indeed
in a disaster that takes down POTS service or government emergency
communications. Folks interested in this might want to investigate ARES
and/or RACES in the US, or similar activities in other countries.

Examples: 
New Orleans: hams did EMCOMM for police, fire, and other services after
grid power failed, until FEMA was able to move generators and other
hardware in.

NYC, 9/11/2001: EMCOMM repeaters were on one of the WTC buildings. When
that collapsed, hams did EMCOMM for police, fire, and other services until
FEMA and NY State got EMCOMM repeater hardware moved in.

Hurricane Ike, Galveston TX and surrounding area: Grid power failed and
many areas flooded, taking out government EMCOMM. Hams provided EMCOMM. I
helped work this one, and *KNOW* there were lives saved by hams poviding
EMCOMM services for government.

Oklahoma City, after the Murrah Building bombing: wired POTS overloaded,
cell services were restricted. Hams provided EMCOMM.

This won't help you get your networks back in service, except indirectly,
but you certainly can help others while you're waiting for things to
improve.

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin 