Puerto Rico Emergency Communications

[davil]

Hi
My daughter was just on the phone with a friend who has her family in Puerto Rico and is totally distraught facing the news as they are available on the current disaster and unable to communicate with anybody.
Communications are now nonexistent and will take time for the island to establish the basics.
My SSB is sitting in the garage deactivated and thought about Ham operators who may be available in our group of cruisers,will there be any one available to perhaps help?
Her friend's family is spread out on
Mayaguez
Moca
Aguadilla
Hormiguero
Any ideas,suggestions will be gratefully appreciated
David

[Flyingriki]

How does this kind of info get out:

Roosevelt Skerrit, described furious winds that tore off the roof of his official residence. "My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding," he wrote.

[MyJavelin38]

Hurricane Maria left the entire island of Puerto Rico 100% without electricity. The Emergency Management Antenna and the NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center have collapsed. Some cell towers have fallen and many radio stations are off the air. If anyone knows of any person who may need help, they're saying another number you can call is (787) 777-0940 WIPR radio as they're receiving emergency calls at the moment.

[atoll]

on other islands were all comms failed,people with generators and a cable internet connection were able to communicate on internet streaming local radio, social media and whats app,facebook messenger etc,so check your emails and inbox

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, MyJavelin38.

➥ http://www.arrl.org/hurricane-maria-2017

➥ http://stcroixsource.com/2017/09/16/...irma-response/

➥ http://www.arrl.org/news/st-croix-am...virgin-islands

[Hakuna Matata]

Thank you for this. My father is from Puerto Rico and my whole family is so stressed as we wait for word.

[zeehag]

found this today when i woke up...
"Hurricane Hotlines numbers for Puerto Rico to call and check on Family and Friends.
202-778-0710
787-777-0940
877-976-2400

Not much help as of yet"

was fb

[SecondBase]

This is an example of where solar panels have an advantage over generators. No supply chain needed.

Typically a bigger expense than a generator but if you can afford panels as part of your storm prep you skip the gas lines and the gas burned to get in the gas line etc.

Solar = complete independence

[Scorpius]

Get your HAM licenses folks. Cruising HAMs have been invaluable in such situations in the past. US and Canadian base stations are eager to work with cruising HAMs in the disaster areas and cruisers have the advantage of being pretty well self-sufficient - independent of local power grids, etc.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by Flyingriki

How does this kind of info get out:

Roosevelt Skerrit, described furious winds that tore off the roof of his official residence. "My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding," he wrote.

On the TV news, it was reported that he has a sat phone.

[Gadagirl]

Ham ops please listen to the Hurricane Net on 7.268 MHz in the mornings (prior to 7:30 am) and 14.325 MHz there after to pass traffic in the affected areas

I saw this on sailnet today. I thought it would be good to share.

[epiic]

Iridium Go is all they need...

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by epiic

Iridium Go is all they need...

+1 on sat capability. And I would add a couple of inexpensive accessories for continuing use.

a) Iridium GO! USB Mini Cable ($20)
b) A pocket-sized folding solar panel with USB output (X-Dragon panel $30 from Walmart)

I keep a USB panel in my main ditch kit.

[hellosailor]

The American Red Cross has implemented (as always) a health-and-welfare communications list. Anyone who is IN PR, can go to any shelter and ask that their information be put on the list. This goes out to a database (on the web now) so that any relatives abroad can search for them by name and see they are all right. I don't have contact specifics, but you can contact the ARC in any area to get them.

There are also two networks, one being ham radio operators under the ARC aegis, the other being SATERN ham radio volunteers under the Salvation Army aegis, who are in PR right now sending health and welfare information both out and in. In all cases, outbound traffic takes priority. (Same thing applies to phone lines when they are up.)

So there is actually quite a bit of communication, but the burden is on the locals to SEND A MESSAGE OUT simply because there would be too much traffic to handle if every inbound request was taken.

This is all standard disaster preparation. Maybe it is just the Nooze not covering things properly, but it seems as if PR really had poor disaster preparedness, and that's put the kibosh on recovery.