Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Jun 17 2022 09:05:57

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2329 for Friday June 17th, 2022

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2329, with a release date of Friday, 
June 17th, 2022, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Hams help reunite a family in India. A disaster 
drill goes forward in Washington State -- and German amateurs roll out a 
national emergency-response plan. All this and more, as Amateur Radio 
Newsline Report Number 2329, comes your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART  

**

DISASTER-RESPONSE PROGRAM DEBUTS IN GERMANY

DON/ANCHOR: We begin this week with disaster preparedness. As the world 
focuses increasingly on changing weather and geologic hazards, a 
disaster-response program with wide-ranging potential has made its debut 
in Germany. Ed Durrant, DD5LP, brings us the details.

ED: Germany's amateur radio community is launching a wide-ranging 
programme of disaster response. The pilot project is being led by the 
German Amateur Radio Club, the DARC, in cooperation with Notfunk 
Bodensee, a Lake Constance radio response group. The need for broader and 
improved response was underscored recently by the devastating floods in 
the Ahr Valley. The new network has started to be rolled out near Lake 
Constance in Markdorf, where a donated emergency communications vehicle 
is being put into service. Organisers say that the effective radio 
response during the 1999 avalanche in Galtür proved to be a good model 
for Germany's amateur radio response but in the intervening years, 
communications capability has progressed even more. The initiative is 
expected to expand next into Ravensburg and Lindau. Greater detail will 
be unveiled at Ham Radio Friedrichschafen on Friday, June 24th.  

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ed Durrant, DD5LP.

**

HAMS PLAY PROMINENT ROLE IN WASHINGTON STATE EMERGENCY DRILL

DON/ANCHOR: Meanwhile in the US, a disaster drill switched formats and 
reported some rewarding results. The Cascadia Rising prepareness exercise 
in the Pacific Northwest region tests emergency response by government, 
business and volunteers in the face of an earthquake and subsequent 
tsunami. This year's exercise, however, was unprecedented: With the 
region's resources stretched from historic wildfires, periods of intense 
rain and the ongoing pandemic, organizers opted to hold this year's 
Cascadia Rising as a discussion-based drill. It was conducted virtually 
on Microsoft Teams rather than as the customary simulation of previous 
years. Robert Sabarese, assessment and exercise programs supervisor with 
the Washington State Emergency Management Division, told Newsline that 
during the drill, which ran from June 13th to 16th, amateur radio emerged 
with even greater potential for deeper involvement. He said there was new 
clarity in how hams can be further deployed beyond their critical early 
roles aiding transportation and resource-delivery to disaster victims.

(ROBERT SABARESE)

**

WEST BENGAL HAMS REUNITE FAMILY AFTER 2 YEARS

DON/ANCHOR: In West Bengal, India, a hospitalized woman was reunited with 
her family in Bangladesh nearly two and a half years after falling ill 
and becoming separated from them - and amateur radio provided the vital 
connection. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has that story.

JIM: When authorities contacted members of the West Bengal Radio Club in 
India several months ago to assist a hospitalised woman in the city of 
Jhargram, the hams knew they would have to accomplish something they'd 
done so many times before: reunite a family with a missing member. 
According to a news report in the Millennium Post, a woman who was found 
by the side of the road 30 months earlier was found to be suffering from 
a mental condition and was hospitalised to begin a lengthy course of 
treatment. She was unable to provide information on the whereabouts of 
any family members. Local officials reached out to the radio amateurs and 
asked them to get involved. After eight months of searching, they finally 
located the woman's brother in Bangladesh. The woman confirmed that she 
knew him and expressed a desire to return home. This month, three of the 
hams who were able to accompany her to the border of the two countries to 
reunite with her brother. Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, the club's 
secretary, identified the hams as Nirmalendu Mahato, VU3IQW, Parimal Roy, 
VU3ZIM, and Sujata (soo-JOTTA) Goswami (Ghos-WAMMI), VU3XBR.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF.

(MILLENNIUM POST)
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33)

.