On this Sunday closest to Remembrance Day, HAMNET salutes and remembers with respect those members of the Ham Fraternity who lost their lives in the world wars or in the commission of amateur radio activities during disasters of one sort or another.
“At the going down of the Sun, and in the morning, we shall remember them”.
Tropical Cyclone KONG-REY eventually resulted in very heavy rainfall over Taiwan, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 185km/h, resulting in 3 fatalities and injuries to more than 690 people.
Another hurricane, this one becoming a category 3 storm, and called RAFAEL, started threatening western Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and central-western Cuba this week.. On 5th November, it was registered as a category 1 storm, with winds blowing in the 150km/h range, and threatening 230000 people in its path. RAFAEL left Cuba’s 10 million residents without power, but, by the 7th, had moved away from Cuba and was heading northwest towards the Gulf of Mexico.
Carlos CO2JC, again advised that, taking into account the approach and better organization for tropical storm Rafael, as well as the rains that have already affected areas of the central and eastern regions, they decided, in coordination with the National Staff of Civil Defence, to activate the National Emergency Network of the Cuban Radio Amateur Federation, starting at 16:00 EST (20:00 UTC) on November 5, 2024.
Carlos said that they will use 7110 kHz (primary) and 7120 (alternative) as working frequencies for shortwave (HF), and also, if the conditions of the stations allow it at night, 3720 kHz and 3740 kHz. In addition, the VHF frequencies of the different municipalities and the installed repeaters will be used live. In the capital, 145.550 MHz will also be used as a provincial emergency frequency.
Again, they requested the international ham fraternity to keep away from those frequencies, and allow emergency traffic to take precedence.
The ARRL said that the Hurricane Watch Net, the VoIP Hurricane Net, and WX4NHC, the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Centre were activated until the night of the 6th, local time, before being stood down.
And the Philippines was also clobbered by a category 1 tropical cyclone called YINXING, affecting about 22000 people in its path on the 5th November. By the next day, GDACS was issuing a RED alert for the cyclone over the Philippines, with 1.6 million people facing the 120km/h winds, but maximum wind speeds forecast to reach 231km/h.
By Tuesday of this week, the death toll from the most severe natural disaster Spain has ever experienced stood at 221. 69 people are still missing, while 36000 people needed rescuing. 98% of areas without electricity have now had their power restored. Luckily the flood waters are subsiding progressively, but a return to normal life in the affected Provinces will take a long long time.
South Africa has also not escaped extreme weather, with several districts of Limpopo province, north-eastern South Africa experiencing heavy rain and hailstorms, causing floods and severe weather-related incidents that resulted in casualties and damage.
According to media, four people died across the worst-affected districts of Sekhukhune, Mopane and Vhembe. By the 7th November, rainfall had subsided, although skies were still overcast.
Danie ZS1OSS, has sent me a formal report on the Annual Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Exercise, which I’ll quote properly now. He writes:
“The Annual Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Exercise was held on 24 October 2024. The purpose of the exercise is to prepare for the unlikely scenario where there may be a radiation leak from the power station, which necessitates the evacuation of residents and animals from the surrounding areas. Such an exercise involves Eskom staff, the City’s Disaster Risk Management Services, SA Police Service, SA National Defence Service, City Fire and Traffic Departments, Provincial Departments such as Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Human Settlements, the Robben Island Museum, the SPCA, Golden Arrow and MyCiti bus services, various media liaison organisations, and also HAMNET.
“HAMNET’s role is defined in its own emergency communications plan for Koeberg and similar disasters. Members are deployed to the DOC (Disaster Operations Centre at Goodwood) where the situation is monitored. If there are critical communication breakdowns, then HAMNET will operate the dedicated radio room for this purpose at the Disaster Risk Management Centre at Goodwood, and will deploy additional available members to where they are required to restore communications with the DOC.
“The exercise itself goes through the stages of initial containment, and escalates up to emergency levels where bus services are deployed to evacuate the public to mass care centres for decontamination. The location of the Mass Care Centres takes into account which direction the wind is blowing from Koeberg. Some aspects are simulated so this year the Koeberg emergency sirens were not activated and no residents were physically evacuated, but the Mass Care Centres were established where they need to be, and traffic roadblocks were put in place without hindering the traffic flow.
“The different Categories of Emergency are defined as:
- Unusual Events – unplanned incidents take place
- Alerts – requiring activation of all Koeberg emergency personnel
- Site emergencies – serious radiological hazards on site
- General emergencies – serious radiological hazards to the public
“For each category, additional actions are triggered and monitored as part of the exercise.
“After the completion of the exercise at 12:13 the instruction to stand down was sent out. There was a debriefing session held to discuss any lessons learnt and improvements that need to be made. As with all previous exercises there is always one or more lessons learnt, and this year was no exception. But this is exactly the purpose of holding regular exercises, so that role-players all get accustomed to what they need to do, how they work together as a team, and to improve what they will be doing the next time.
“This exercise was itself also a preparation for the Biennial Koeberg Nuclear Power Station National Nuclear Regulator Exercise to be held on 19 November 2024.
“Present from HAMNET Western Cape this year were Danie ZS1OSS and Shawn ZS1LED.”
Thank you, Danie and Shawn, for your conscientious support of these exercises, and the report.
Our radio station ZS1DCC is upstairs from the Disaster Operations Centre at Goodwood, and all equipment is permanently on and running, to be used at a moment’s notice if the Disaster plan calls for it.
This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.