Situation Report from Rita’s aftermath
Howdy all,
I just got back from spending 3 days in Jasper along with John, WA5VBP, N5BOY
and N5JB.
Whew - Tom is correct when he says John is busy! John’s station:
- Icom 706MkIIg
- PTCIIex Pactor 3 modem (same one used when he takes trips to Honduras)
- Z100 tuner
- Ladderline dipole at 10ft above ground
- Laptop
I spent a couple days with VHF and HF-7285 riding around in a Salvation Army
truck. Our job was to deliver hot meals to various locations around a 3-county
area with 5 Salv.Army trucks and also several Red Cross trucks all working
together. During my stay the powers-at-be were working to coordinate efforts
between Salv.Army and RedCross so both operations did not arrive at the same
location bringing food supplies. No simple tasks.
The Methodist Men from Arkansas were doing ALL of the cooking - approx. 11,000
hot meals per day. In addition, we were delivering additional foodstuffs,
diapers, canned goods, toilet paper, baby formula, etc., to various locations
throughout the area.
The biggest Ham task I was dealing with was coordinating the food delivery to
the various locations while trying to minimize the duplicate routes we were
driving. For example, if my truck had to drive through BUNA Texas to deliver
food to Sillsbey, but another truck was coming from the opposite side of teh
county to deliver food to BUNA, we would trade food so that we could deliver
the containers to BUNA while we passed through.
John, however, is not only handling food orders and supplies requisitions to
the various agencies, but also for a short time he was processing and inputting
all of the delivery truck “Situation Reports” at the end of the day, and
printing a summary of food requests for the Arkansas group to cook for the next
day.
John has the ONLY printer.
Since then I think he’s gotten some assistance distributing the load to others,
but it’s still a 7am until 8pm shift, day after day. Pactor 3 is working
great. I find it amazing that they are using Pactor 3 (very useful) even
though cell phones and landline phones are working fine.
Our building had power from a couple of BFG’s - Big Fat Generators - that each
hold 225 Gallons of Diesel. They run 1″ thick power cables into the junction
box and it keeps the entire church lit up and cooled by the A/C.
For the most part, our local activity has worked fine on 2m simplex, but that
is only good up to about 10 miles from Jasper. At the greatest distance, it’s
more like 50m to the edge of the routes we cover. We’ve recently put a 2m
repeater online, and with a 50w mobile it’s good for about 30-40 miles, and a
second and possibly third repeater is coming. 8285Khz has been very reliable
from the mobiles, but is sometimes congested with both Texas and Louisiana
traffic occuring.
The Red Cross has their Ford Excursion vehicle onsite, and they have satellite
link to the Internet as well as 802.11b, but it’s locked down tight, and most
sites are blocked even if you have access to the WAP. They also have some
Cisco 7620 VOIP cordless (802.11b) phones that connect back to HQ through the
satellite connection, so they can wander around the facility and have a VOIP
extension to Chicago or Muncie, IN. This is a slick system, but even slight
rain (it rained every night I was there) causes a disruption in the signal.
A dozen or so FRS radios would also be a HUGE help for the onsite logisitics of
unloading and processing food, forklifts, and simply locating the right folks
in charge.
Even though regular phones are working (most of the time) it’s really the HAMS
that are the communicators of the group. Our ability to understand the issues
and express concerns and suggestions in a clear and concise manner have helped
solve a variety of issues that crop up during the day.
Outside of the Ham activity, the Arkansas Methodist cooking teams, the Red
Cross and Salvation Army volunteers, are all completely AWESOME. Everyone is
focused and cares deeply about their tasks, and things are happening at
lightning speed throughout the day.
The church is lit and air conditioned. Sleeping facilities are comfortable -
most of the volunteers have cots or air matresses and we share rooms throughout
the building. There’s plenty to eat and drink - there’s a whole support staff
there just to handle the needs of the volunteers. There’s showers. There’s a
laundry service that will wash your clothes and have them ready for you as you
return at the end of the day. There’s a refueling station at the local airport
to support all of the volunteer vehicles delivering food, cutting trees,
replacing power lines, etc. It’s an amazing operation, and they are geared up
for the long-run.
Our group of Salvation Army volunteers mostly came from California, and were
there for a 2-week visit, where they circulated out and were replaced by a
fresh group. The cooking staff was from Arkansas, and the Red Cross volunteers
came from all over. Many were already veterans of Katrina and coming back for
2nd and even 3rd tours of duty.
Right now, the biggest issue is power. Without it, there’s no business,
there’s no work for folks to return to, no way to cook, no AC. There’s no TV
or radio stations to watch or listen to. John said he scanned around and only
found one or two religious stations from some distant location.
I was surprised that there were not as many trees down as I had originally
imagined. Most areas I visited lost anywhere from 10% to 50% of the trees.
These are tall pine trees - some are tipped over at their base, and some
(amazingly) looked to be SHEARED off at the 20-25 ft. level. Most of these
trees came down right across the power lines. In some areas, there’s a tree or
two down in between EVERY SINGLE power pole, even some power poles that were
sheared off as well.
Not all homes sustained damage, but I did see quite a few with trees down the
middle, portions of the roof or shingles missing, siding ripped off, and sheds
and garages shredded. I saw lots of folks sleeping in tents in their front
yards (too hot to sleep indoors I suppose).
There are areas where we debated whether these homes looked like they did
BEFORE the hurricane came through. There are also some very impoverished areas
that desperately needed help. We served a hot meal to one elderly lady who had
no front door on her trailer - just a blue-and-white shower curtain.
That said, everyone there was extremely appreciative of our assistance.
There’s been a little looting late at night, and I heard one town’s fire
department had all of the fuel stolen one night, but there was never any
concern over security where we were located. Our facility also fed hot meals
to the local sheriff, and they would come by once in a while to check on us.
Everyone’s biggest concern was that there were pockets of residents that we
were not reaching with food, and so some hefty resources were dedicated to
scouting missions looking for pockets of folks that did not know where to go
get food or assistance. Scouting missions with Hams in the vehicle are what I
believe to be the biggest benefit - we can call in locations from the field and
respond quicker to their needs.
OK, I’ve rambled enough for now. We need more Ops on the ground - pass the
word.
73!
Scott - KI5DR