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Winlink Role in Tsunami Disaster AftermathWinlink stands by at any time of the day, without exception - for 365 days of the year, to handle normal but more importantly any personal, local and international emergency radio communications. This can include email to far-away family and friends but again, more importantly, to and from disaster and emergency relief organizations including search and rescue authorities. Winlink is a voluntary and free service provided by radio amateurs. To increase the level of awareness of Winlink SYSOPS (the system operators that manage each and every of Winlink’s more than forty amateur radio station around the globe) the Winlink Development Team immediately asked its operators to be alert for any requests for special assistance. At the same time Winlink received hundreds of frantic emails from concerned families and friends asking about the welfare of recreational cruisers who, on their own sailboats, were thought to be in the areas that were affected by the tsunami. Winlink is particularly geared to serve those who are in isolated and remote places at sea or on land around the world and who do not have access to normal communication facilities. There
was an immediate exchange of communications between SYSOPS gathering whatever
information they could about the welfare of boats and crews. A particular good
source was the Internet where mobile marine nets and “Bloggers” started to post
news about the tsunami.
Combining all resources, news was gathered from places as far apart as Malaysia and South Africa. As news started to accumulate it appeared that the cruising community fared reasonably well. However, this could be misleading because those that survived without damage would have been among the first to communicate via Winlink or SailMail and other means. Those vessels that might be lost at sea, destroyed in marinas or without ship’s power may not be heard about for some time. Winlink stations in Australia, the nearest to the epicenter of the earthquake, played a major coordinating role by compiling and continually updating a list of vessels known to have survived and, unfortunately, also of those that appear to be missing as they had not reported into the Winlink network. To make operational matters matters worse, the Winlink station operating out of Perth, Western Australia, has serious interference with its radio communications from nearby faulty power lines from the local electricity utility. Also, a Winlink pioneer located in Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory, who was willing to go on the air at short notice was unable to do so because he could not immediately get continuous high speed Internet connectivity. The latter is required because it is Winlink’s policy that messages must be forwarded instantaneously to addressees - an obvious necessity during an emergency. AussieWinlink documented what transpired within Winlink in the first few days following the earthquake. To access the long report Click here > Full Report. AussieWinlink |
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