In reaction to Tropical Cyclone GEZANI, which finally stopped being a danger to Madagascar and Mozambique this last week, the South African Development Community has deployed its Emergency Response Team (ERT) to support the Government of Madagascar after GEZANI made landfall on 10 February 2026. This was a second destructive system to hit Madagascar within just ten days, following the impacts of Tropical Cyclone FYTIA which made landfall on 31 January, compounding the crisis. The cyclone resulted in loss of life, significant displacement, destruction of infrastructure and significant disruption to essential services.
The deployment of the SADC ERT forms part of SADC’s established regional disaster response mechanisms, which are designed to complement and reinforce Government-led efforts in Member States severely affected by natural disasters. The ERT has been deployed in collaboration with MapAction, Rescue South Africa and the World Food Programme (WFP). The teams will be on the ground in Madagascar from 16 to 28 February, providing technical support to national authorities in emergency response coordination, search and rescue, geospatial expertise to inform decision making, ongoing situation monitoring and the consolidation of a regional humanitarian appeal informed by evolving impact assessments.
GDACS says the final death toll in Madagascar stands at 59, with another 4 fatalities recorded in coastal areas of Mozambique, where GEZANI passed close to the city of Inhambane last Saturday. Luckily, the Cyclone then moved directly south and appears to have dissipated in the Indian Ocean south east of Southern Africa.
Brian ZS6YZ tells me that HAMNET Gauteng supported by members from the Vaal area, the Free State and Secunda provided communications support for the DisChem Retina SA Ride for Sight Cycle Event over last weekend the 14-15th February.
The events started and ended at the Boksburg Stadium, just a stone’s throw away from the Brakpan airfield where HAMNET Gauteng has their base and where their trailer and container cache is also situated.
Early on Saturday morning the trailers were collected from the rental company using the rental vehicles that were delivered on Friday. The communications equipment needed was collected from the cache at the container and the set-up of the JOC on the first floor of the Boksburg stadium started. Antennas were mounted on the mast of the HAMNET trailer and on the 6m mast attached to the rear of Brian’s Land Cruiser, with RF cables being run to the operating positions of the two JOC radio operators, Stephen ZS6SKY and Gideon ZS4GJA. A repeater was set up for Stadium communications and another repeater was set up at a venue on the Eastern side of the Suikerbosrand as fill-in for the dead spot behind the mountain. A WiFi link was also put up between the JOC and the start/finish to allow for a camera feed so that the JOC could have situational awareness of what was happening at that spot.
This year a number of the HAMNET members decided to sleep over at the JOC and after setting up their beds a welcome bring and braai was enjoyed by everyone and then those sleeping over retired for the 03:00 start on Sunday morning.
During the course of the day on Saturday the weather turned cold with an easterly wind blowing straight from the Antarctic. Luckily there was no rain and the next morning the day started off cold, windy and partly cloudy – ideal weather for the cyclists.
At short notice the organizers needed to change the long route due to road works. This changed the 106 km long route to a distance of 125 km and the first water point on the long route had to be moved to a different location. This change in the route was welcomed by everyone as it took the cyclists out into the country and on to the open road. The organizers introduced a new 10 km fun route for the youngsters that also attracted a number of entrants. Over five thousand riders participated and the event ran successfully with relatively few incidents other than two vehicles being stolen from the stadium despite a strong security presence.
Both Willem, ZS6WIM the JOC Commander for the event and Brian, ZS6YZ who assisted Willem on the day would like to thank all the water point managers of the 5 water points that acted as mini-JOCs and their sweeps for doing a great job fielding the curved balls thrown at the HAMNET team this year. Maud, the XYL of Willem provided all the logistics support assisted by Elaine the XYL of Stephen ZS6SKY and Linda ZS6LMG.
As Brian reminded everyone at the debrief on Monday evening after the event, curved balls are a part of any disaster response and having curved balls thrown at us just helps us become more resilient and better prepared for the time that we are called for duty.
Thank you, Brian for the comprehensive report.
For those of you interested in a special contact with Bouvet, the latest DXpedition to Bouvet Island, 3YØK, is back on track after a 2-week delay for mechanical repairs to its ship, the Argus. Team Media Manager James Gallo, KB2FMH, confirmed reports from earlier this week that the ship had arrived in Cape Town, and was being loaded with the expedition’s equipment. The team of 24 operators includes 22-year-old Max Freedman, N4ML, an ARRL staff member.
In an earlier statement on the 3YØK website, the team leadership explained that “Our vessel requires additional maintenance to ensure it is fully prepared for the demanding voyage to one of the most remote and challenging locations on Earth.” The announcement added that “While this delay is disappointing, the safety of our team remains our highest priority. The adjustment does not change the overall strategy of the DXpedition, which has been carefully planned over the past three years.”
Gallo says the ship will head out soon and that arrival time will be weather-dependent. Updates will be posted on the expedition website, www.3y0k.com.
On Wednesday the 18th, an APRS beacon popped up in Cape Town, belonging to one of the members of the expedition, with call sign OY1R, using a handheld radio. He has not been seen again since Wednesday. OY is the prefix for the Faroe Islands, belonging to Denmark, about halfway between Iceland and the Scottish Hebrides.
This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, wishing the team Bon Voyage down south, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.