Hurricanes and Emergency Communications

Here is something I sent to reporter who was asking about communications in the wake of Hurricane Katrina damage:

I'm Ted Demopoulos, a Business/IT consultant and speaker. Representative clients include Cisco, The DoD, The Singapore Ministry of Education, and IBM. I've been playing with technology since the early 70s including radio, and have been on the Internet for 25+ years.

A sizable disaster wipes out all organized communications, whether man made like 9/11 or natural like a hurricane. Often the only communications reliably left are those that can be trivially rebuilt and run by volunteers.

After 9/11, as well as just about every natural disaster including the massive Asia-Pac tsunami, most emergency communications are done my Amateur Radio (ham radio). That's why ham radio is part of the Emergency Communications Infrastructure by act of Congress.

Most hams have the technical knowledge and experience to quickly get a station on the air, even if their home station has been destroyed. They also have the training to effectively handle emergency communications.

I've been on the Internet since 79, a ham since 78, and was an early adopter of cellphones - I KNOW what is most reliable, and it's ham radio.

Glad to talk anytime

Ted, callsign KT1V