Ham radio has always been in the forefront whenever a disaster strikes, be it a flood, a cyclone, an earthquake or whatever kind of natural or man made situation.

With the capability of modern equipment to operate from 12 Volt batteries, the reliance on mains power is not there and so Hams are ideally equipped to work out in the field where basic amenities do not exist.

Indian hams have always rallied round in every possible emergency and their efforts have always been lauded.

Examples are the Koyna Dam disaster, The Gujarat Earthquake, The Bhopal gas tragedy, several cyclones on the Andhra coast, and more recently the Tsunami, when for several days' ham radio was the only means of communication between the Andaman (where a group of hams were providentially present) and the mainland.

In most cases VHF radio, with its ease of portability, small antennae, is used for local coordination and HF for relaying the information over long distances. Basic wire antennae are usually sufficient for emergency HF communication as messages are usually only required to be sent on relatively short distances.

Ham radio is internationally accepted as the MAIN means of emergency communications and at the present moment is being extensively being used for the Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

In most parts of the world, digital communication is extensively used as there is a recorded message which can be referred to, unlike a voice message which can sometimes be misunderstood.

Packet radio and more recently Pactor, with its high speed transmission is very useful. The Winlink Pactor stations, with local Telpac feeds on VHF/UHF have been deployed in the US and it will not be long before such sophisticated setups are integrated into Indian Emergency communication protocols. One Winlink PMBO has already been set up in Chennai and is providing communication to seafaring hams, and it can be integrated into other requirements easily.

We do have VU2JHM Ajoy as the Regional Disaster Communication coordinator for IARU. He is situate in Bangalore and is putting together plans for a national core group who can swing into action whenever a disaster strikes. Ready made kits have to be made available in strategic locations so that groups of hams can swiftly deploy to the effected areas, without the delay of making up antennae and collecting material etc.

Disaster communication is a major contribution which hams make on a regular basis and which is very visible.