FULL ALERT LEVEL DELTA III .... For Haiti Earthquake........ (SATERN) with updates Updated 1-25-10

Full Alert Level DELTA III for Haiti Earthquake Emergency. All nets active. 14.265 MHz Primary Daytime. 7265 and 3977.7 KHz evening and night.............
Update

TO: All SATERN Operators, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army

CC: Maj. Patrick E. McPherson - WW9E, National SATERN Director, National Headquarters, The Salvation Army
Jeff Jellets, Disaster Services Coordinator, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Maj. Gene Hogg, Divisional Secretary, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Mark Jones, Divisional PIO, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
All ARRL Leadership in the Southern Territory of The Salvation Army

Earthquake net frequencies - 7045, 3720 kHz - Please keep clear

From the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom

All radio amateurs are requested to keep 7045 kHz and 3720 kHz clear for possible emergency traffic related to today's major earthquake in Haiti.

International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK, reports that as of 0245 UTC on January 13, nothing had been heard from radio amateurs in Haiti, but that the above frequencies were being kept active in case any Haitian hams manage to get on the air, and in case of other related events in surrounding areas, including aftershocks and a possible tsunami.

The following is from an e-mail from CO2KK:

A few minutes after the earthquake was felt in eastern Cuba's cities, the Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs Emergency Net was activated, with net control stations CO8WM and CO8RP located in the city of Santiago de Cuba, and in permanent contact with the National Seismology Center of Cuba located in that city.

Stations in the city of Baracoa, in Guantanamo province, were also activated immediately as the earth movements were felt even stronger there, due to its proximity to Haiti. CO8AZ and CO8AW went on the air immediately, with CM8WAL following. At the early phase of the emergency, the population of the city of Baracoa was evacuated far away from the coast, as there was a primary alert of a possible tsunami event or of a heavy wave trains sequence impacting the coast line at the city's sea wall ...

Baracoa could not contact Santiago de Cuba stations on 40 meters due to long skip after 5 PM local time, so several stations in western Cuba and one in the US State of Florida provided relays. CO2KK as IARU Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator, helped to organize the nets, on 7045 kHz and also on 3720 kHz, while local nets in Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa operated on 2 meters.

As late as 9,45 PM local time 0245 UTC we have not been able to contact any amateur or emergency services stations in Haiti.

Amateurs from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela were monitoring the 40 meter band frequency, that I notified to the IARU Region II executive Ramon Santoyo XE1KK as in use for the emergency, requesting that 7045 kHz be kept as clear as possible..

We are still keeping watch on 7045 kHz hoping that someone in Haiti may have access to a transceiver and at least a car battery to run it.

All information that has so far come from the Cuban seismologists tell us of a very intense earthquake, and also of the possibility of other events following.

Following the advice of the geophysicists, we are keeping the 7045 and 3720 kiloHertz frequencies active until further notice.

Global ALE High Frequency Network (HFN) announced a full activation alert for Emergency Disaster / Relief Communications (Emcomm) in response to the Haiti earthquake. The international system uses standard ham radio Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) on all HF bands, and the service footprint includes good coverage of Haiti during day and night conditions. Full alert status of volunteer operators in the North America and Caribbean area region was activated just a few hours after the earthquake hit, and it will remain at high status until relief efforts no longer experience communications emergency conditions.

HFN operators constantly provide an open international Emcomm 24/7 worldwide HF net simultaneously on all ham radio HF bands for 2-way communications with stations in the field. The net includes direct HF selective calling, group call, message relay, and internet messages. It is the only network of its kind, able to seamlessly utilize either the standard ALE HF radios that emergency response agencies have, or normal ham radio transceivers with laptop/PC computers common to amateur radio Emcomm organizations. Email and station tracking is available via the primary base stations in the net. SSB voice and all other modes can be used.

All operators involved in Emcomm and Disaster Response are encouraged to participate in the ALE Comm Centre live operator chat room at HFLINK.NET
and activate Automatic Link Establishment on the international ALE frequencies:

HFN Primary Data Net (emcomm/text/internet/sounding/calling)
3596.0 USB
7102.0 USB
10145.5 USB
14109.0 USB
18106.0 USB
21096.0 USB
24926.0 USB
28146.0 USB

HFL SSB Voice Net (emcomm/selective calling or group calling)
3791.0 USB
7185.5 USB
14346.0 USB
18117.5 USB
21437.5 USB
24932.0 USB
28312.5 USB

====================================
Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA
International Emcomm Coordinator, Global ALE High Frequency Network
http://hflink.net

Greetings:

National SATERN Director, Major Patrick McPherson - WW9E - reports that 20 meters is no longer viable for this evening. He has asked all active SATERN Operators with HF privileges to monitor 7.265.0 MHz and 3.977.7 MHz. SATERN Operators in the Southern Territory are in a generally excellent geographic position to hear any signals from Haiti on those frequencies - particularly on 75 meters..

Again, normal SATERN Net protocols apply. That is, there should be a Net Control who will be in charge of the frequency. All transmissions should be directed to the Net Control. Please listen for a Net Control on those frequencies. If you do not hear a Net Control or a relay to Net Control, but do receive formal EMERGENCY or PRIORITY traffic from Haiti (e.g. traffic with a name and a telephone number or e-mail address for the addressee and the same information about the sender), please contact me at 601.421.1496 with that traffic and I will pass it on to the appropriate authorities. But please try to work through Net Control if you can hear them or a relay to Net Control. Passing traffic to me is a LAST RESORT.

Beginning, tomorrow, as 20 meters opens up, you should again monitor the 20 meter frequency of 14.265 MHz whenever possible.

Please keep the people of Haiti and our Salvation Army personnel and other disaster relief personnel already in that country in your prayers.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Respectfully,
WmH Feist3
WILLIAM H. FEIST III, WB8BZH
Divisional Emergency Disaster Services Director
Divisional SATERN Coordinator
Alabama - Louisiana - Mississippi Division
Territorial SATERN Coordinator
The Salvation Army, Southern Territory
P.O. Box 4857 - Jackson, MS 39296-4857
E-Mail: Bill_Feist@USS.SalvationArmy.org.

The United States State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747.
We’ll provide more details and opportunities to help as we learn more.
To stay up-to-date on latest development, US State Dept. News can be found on: http://www.state.gov/

US Military Operations, since yesterday afternoon's 7.0 earthquake:

The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was rerouted Wednesday to support humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, according to U.S. Southern Command.
The carrier is expected to arrive off the coast of Haiti Thursday (Jan 14).

The U.S. Southern Command confirmed additional Navy ships are underway to Haiti, but did not specify what vessels would be going.

The U.S. Southern Command, based in Miami, also deployed a team of 30 people to Haiti to work with U.S. Embassy personnel as well as Haitian, U.N. and international officials to assess the situation and facilitate follow-on U.S. military support, according to the press release.
The team includes military engineers, operational planners, a command and control group and communication specialists.
They will arrive in Haiti today (Wednesday) on two C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Elements of the Air Force 1st Special Operations Wing were deploying to the international airport at Port-au-Prince to provide air traffic control capability and airfield operations. They are expected to arrive in Haiti on Wednesday afternoon.

Early Wednesday morning, Coast Guard helicopters evacuated four (4) critically injured U.S. Embassy staff in Haiti to hospital at Naval Station Guantanamo, Cuba, for further medical treatment.

A U.S. P-3 Orion from the Forward Operating Location at Comalapa, El Salvador, also conducted aerial reconnaissance of the affected area. Those aerial photos are now at U.S. Southern Command in Miami and Washington, according to several news sources.

SouthCom has supported 14 major relief missions in the region since 2005, including assistance to Haiti in September 2008. During that mission, forces from the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge and other units airlifted 3.3 million pounds of aid to communities that were devastated by a succession ofmajor storms.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian people and all those affected by this devastating earthquake,” said Army Col. James Marshall, SouthCom spokesman.

The USS Carl Vinson and its crew of approximately 3,200 sailors left Norfolk, VA on Tuesday en route to their new homeport in San Diego. The carrier, which is commanded by Capt. Bruce Lindsey, was joined by Carrier Air Wing 17 and the cruisers Lake Champlain and Bunker Hill.
As flagship of the newly established Carrier Strike Group 1, Vinson was to provide maritime security as it circumnavigates South America and provide humanitarian assistance or disaster relief, if required. The call for assistance came less than 24 hours after it left Norfolk, VA.
====

Good Afternoon,
The reports and images from Haiti of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes, and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching. As we learn more about the extent of the devastation, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and Haitian Americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home.
I have directed my Administration to respond with a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States Government in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief -- the food, water and medicine -- that Haitians will need in the coming days.
This is also a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share, and Americans have always responded to these situations with generosity of spirit. If you would like to support the urgent humanitarian effort in Haiti, I encourage you to visit our website where you can learn more about how to contribute:
http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake
Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.
We will continue to stand with the people of Haiti and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
From The President Of The USA...

(CNN) -- Sunday 1-17-10

11:55 a.m. -- The U.S. Army is sending more than 7,000 soldiers into Haiti to help with the relief effort. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is already docked offshore, but its helicopters are having trouble finding places to land.

11:52 a.m. -- There are roughly 1,000 American military personnel on the ground, with another approximately 3,600 providing support from the USS Carl Vinson and other naval vessels offshore, Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command, tells CNN. Read

11:44 a.m. -- The World Food Programme says it reached 40,000 people in and around Port-au-Prince with high-energy biscuits. The organization says its goal is to reach another 60,000 people on Sunday. Convoys and shipments carrying ready-to-eat foods continue to arrive, the group says.

11:42 a.m. -- U.S. paratroopers using helicopters delivered 130,000 daily ration packets on Saturday, Keen said on "Fox News Sunday." Some 70,000 bottles of water were also delivered, he says.

11:03 a.m. -- Crews are working to free a fourth man from the grocery store rubble scene, and have contact with him, said Joe Fernandez, a spokesman for the Florida search and rescue team. It was "a unique situation ... because survivors are encased in food," he said. The trapped quake victims had been living on the store's inventory of food and water, authorities said.

10:41 a.m. -- The NYPD-FDNY team is still working the grocery store rubble scene, and say more are alive there. They could have them out in a few minutes or a few hours. More equipment and personnel were just brought in.

10:31 a.m. -- The NYPD-FDNY team has pulled an additional man out from the grocery store rubble, and says there are no others. The girl was treated for leg injuries and the two men for undetermined injuries. The team did not say how many more are alive inside the collapsed building.

10:21 a.m. --Harvard doctor was at a meeting in Port-au-Prince when earthquake hit; found she was the only doctor at a clinic, CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports. Read

9:50 a.m. --Simply restoring Haiti to its impoverished state before the earthquake would amount to failure, former President Bill Clinton tells CNN.For Clinton, also the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, success is "setting up a network quickly to get the food, water, medicine, security and information people need." Read more and watch

9:49 a.m. --"Success is helping save lives in the short term, and then we can worry about the long-term after the situation has been stabilized,"former U.S. president George W. Bush tells CNN. He and former President Bill Clinton are leading a fund-raising initiative for Haiti.

9:27 a.m. -- The New York Police Department reports that earlier today a man and a teenage girl were pulled from the rubble of a grocery store that was in a collapsed building in Port-au-Prince. The rescue team led by the NYPD and the Fire Department of New York is trying to reach three others also trapped in the wreckage.

9:25 a.m. -- Doctors Without Borders reports that one of its cargo planes carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince. Read

9:20 a.m. -- "We're confident that the Haiti that emerges from this can be strong and significant," Rajiv Shah, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, tells CNN. He notes "the absolute commitment and resilience of the Haitian people."

9:18 a.m. --"We are going to be here as long as we are needed," Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command, tells CNN. Read

9:06 a.m. --"The ground was lifting me up," survivor Nahumy Jean-Louis says. WatchVideo

9:01 a.m. --Canadians are airlifted out of Haiti; their relief is tinged with anxiety, the Montreal Gazette reports. Read

8:36 a.m. --There is a feeling among some at the church service that the earthquake was a punishment. Part of the sermon says, "God, when you stomped your foot, the ground shook. Please take care of us, we are sorry for the sins we have committed."

Are you there? Send us images, video

8:32 a.m. --Despite the devastation, some people at the service at the makeshift sanctuary are dressed in their Sunday best. A crowd is standing on the dirt because there are not enough seats for everyone.

8:06 a.m. --At a makeshift sanctuary near Port-au-Prince, a woman sings in Creole, "God you're good. If you're alive today, you have a purpose for us. Look over us. Your love is always abundant."

8:02 a.m. -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon says he is heading to Haiti with a heavy heart. It will be a short but tough trip, he says.

7 a.m. -- Nearly 30 international rescue teams continue to comb the disaster areas for more survivors.

5:10 a.m. --A Los Angeles County rescue crew chips away at concrete to try to reach a woman who sent a text message that she was buried beneath the ruins of a collapsed bank.

4 a.m. -- After eight hours of digging, Los Angeles County rescuers determine that there is no one alive beneath a collapsed downtown Port-au-Prince day care center. Throughout the dig, distinct tapping against the concrete could be heard. WatchVideo

3:45 a.m. -- One doctor in the region tells CNN approximately 30 percent of patients in one hospital need immediate surgery within the next 24 hours, or they'll die.

1-18-10 Update

TO: All Corps Officers, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
All Service Center Directors, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army

CC: Maj. Gene Hogg, Divisional Secretary, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Trey Jones, Asst. Divisional EDS Director for Operations, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Mark Jones, Divisional PIO, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Freddie Gregory, DHQ Receptionist, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Jeff Jellets, Territorial Disaster Services Coordinator, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Christie Sutton, Territorial Disaster Services Operations Coordinator, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
All SATERN Operators, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Major Patrick E. McPherson - WW9E, National SATERN Director, National Headquarters
Dick Montgomery - N3DV, Territorial SATERN Coordinator, Eastern Territory, The Salvation Army
Bill Shillington - N9ZCL, Territorial SATERN Coordinator, Central Territory, The Salvation Army
All ARRL Leadership in the Southern Territory of The Salvation Army

Greetings, :

The Office of the U.S. Secretary of State has announced a Person Finder tool available on their website at www.state.gov/haitiquake/ . The tool was developed by the U.S. State Department, several NGO's (non-government organizations) and technical advisors.

I recommend that you instruct your receptionist(s) or employee(s) who answer the phone at your Corps or Service Center to be aware of this information and give it out to people who inquire about ways to contact loved ones in Haiti.

The U.S. State Department site lists the following resources:

For Information About U.S. Citizens IN Haiti:

E-Mail: Haiti-Earthquake@State.Gov
Phone: 1.888.407.4747 (From the U.S. or Canada)
1.202.501.4444 (From outside of the U.S. or Canada)

For U.S. Citizens IN Haiti Seeking Assistance or Reporting Their Status / Location:

E-Mail: ACSPaP@State.Gov
Phone: 509.2229.8942
509.2229.8089
509.2229.8322
509.2229.8672

The following information should be given by e-mail or phone:

1. The full name, date of birth and passport information (if known) of the person
being sought for.

2. Their contact information in Haiti (e.g. telephone numbers, e-mail address, hotel
name or address (if known)

3. Your name and contact information and your relationship to the person being sought.

4. Any special or emergency circumstances.

5. If, after leaving a message, you hear from the person being, sought, please update
the U.S. State Department by phone or e-mail.

To seek information about citizens of other countries IN Haiti or to leave updated status information
about them, go to the Person Finder site at www.state.gov/haitiquake and follow the instructions there.
There are no telephone numbers listed for citizens of other countries.

According to the press release from the U.S. State Department, "It is a simple tool that allows people to
locate and contribute information on people in Haiti. This tool is available in French and English and
can be embedded on any website. In addition to helping people find their loved ones, this tool will make
the data accessible to other governments and private organizations in an easily manageable and
accessible format."

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Respectfully,
WmH Feist3
WILLIAM H. FEIST III, WB8BZH
Divisional Emergency Disaster Services Director
Divisional SATERN Coordinator
Alabama - Louisiana - Mississippi Division
Territorial SATERN Coordinator
The Salvation Army, Southern Territory

and

TO: All SATERN Operators, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army

CC: Major Patrick E. McPherson - WW9E, National SATERN Director, National Headquarters
Territorial SATERN Coordinators For The United States and Canada / Bermuda
Major Gene Hogg, Divisional Secretary, ALM Division, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Jeff Jellets, Territorial Disaster Services Coordinator, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
Christie Sutton Territorial Disaster Services Operations Coordinator, Southern Territory, The Salvation Army
All ARRL Leadership in The Salvation Army Southern Territory

Greetings:

In an effort to keep you informed about key developments in the response to the earthquake in Haiti by The Salvation Army - especially SATERN, and amateur radio in general, please find below a note from Major Patrick E. McPherson - WW9E and Allen Pitts - W1AGP, ARRL Public Relations Director, concerning a response by amateur radio operators in the Dominican Republic to Haiti. Below those notes is a more detailed report from from Greg Mossop - GØDUB, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator in IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) Update #5.

Also included in this report (in order) is:

= IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) Updates #1 through 3.

= A report from the ARRL, courtesy of www.ARRL.org

= For those who enjoy monitoring, a list of frequencies being used by various governments
and response organizations from RadioReference.com which can be found at
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Haiti_Earthquake_2010

= A copy of FEMA's report on the U.S. Government's response efforts taken from the public
version of the daily FEMA Situation Report for Saturday, January 16, 2010.

Finally, Maj. McPherson reports that SATERN will soon be stepping down from its DELTA V (catastrophic disaster communications) status to a DELTA III (daily net and then constant monitoring of the SATERN frequency) status. An official notice concerning this from Maj. McPherson will be coming out in the near future.

As of tonight, however, the SATERN Net has not heard any Haitian amateur radio stations or other amateur radio stations in Haiti to whom we can pass in-bound Health & Welfare Inquiries. This is unfortunate but also indicative, I think, of the level of destruction in Haiti. The only amateur radio station I have consistently heard about (from internet reports) that has been on the air has been John Henault - HH6JH - who is engaged in Missionary work with homeless children in Port au Prince. He continues to make contacts on 20 meters using power from a neighbor’s generator. The last I have heard his contacts have been primarily through the Intercontinental Maritime Mobile Net on 14.300 MHz.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Respectfully,
WmH Feist3
WILLIAM H. FEIST III, WB8BZH
Divisional Emergency Disaster Services Director
Divisional SATERN Coordinator
Alabama - Louisiana - Mississippi Division
Territorial SATERN Coordinator
The Salvation Army, Southern Territory
P.O. Box 4857 - Jackson, MS 39296-4857
E-Mail: Bill_Feist@USS.SalvationArmy.org.

----- Forwarded by Bill Feist/ALM/USS/SArmy on 01/17/2010 05:25 PM -----
From: ww9e@aol.com
To: Sharon_Polarek@use.salvationarmy.org, Rick_Shirran@can.salvationarmy.org
Cc: kevin_ellers@USC.salvationarmy.org, wa0lsb@kellin.net, w9zcl@arrl.net, grampeg56@aol.com, kp416kp@sbcglobal.net, Bill_Feist@uss.salvationarmy.org, N3dv@aol.com, laurence_mcpherson@USC.salvationarmy.org
Date: 01/16/2010 10:24 PM
Subject: From ARRL

This from relay of a message from a Dominican Ham is from Allen Pitts of the ARRL. The eight amateurs from the Dominican Republic were going to set up HF communications in Haiti. Possibly one of the hams was the one who was killed. Unknown at this time.

HI and HH refer to the prefix of the call signs for Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Be alert friends and safe friends.

Pat
ww9e

RELAY de w1agp

I just had a long telephone conversation with Hugo Ramón HI8VRS who confirms that the HI8RCD team, 8 amateurs, are back in the border town of Jimani (Dominican Republic). Their convoy, who include other non related Dominicans, was assaulted and one person lost its life.

They had to return from the capital to the border unescorted and report the situation as extremely unsafe and scary.

They have installed a repeater that cover both capitals, HH and HI, and it's being used by the Red Cross and Civil Defense since there is no other way to communicate.

73

Ramon, XE1KK

===============================

Haiti Update No. 4

The following update was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.

The eight amateurs from Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) who were operating under the callsign HI8RCD/HH have had to abort their operations after the convoy they were travelling in was fired on.

EB9GF, who is integrated in the Spanish Red Cross contingent, was able to contact the colleagues from the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD). The RCD has currently two VHF repeaters in use for operations:

- 146.970 (-600), CTCSS 100 Hz. Placed in the Dominican Republic. Please
note that the old frequency 147.970 seems to be wrong.
- 145.350 (-600), CTCSS 100 Hz. New repeater active near the border with
Haiti.

RCD initially reported that their team crossed the Haitian border at 10:50 hours haitian time arriving at the Dominican Embassy in Haiti at 14:29 hours when they started installing and testing their equipment.

Within a few hours though, reports via the RCD Facebook page confirmed by a long telephone conversation between Hugo Ramón HI8VRS and Ramon Sanyoyo V, XE1KK reported that the HI8RCD team of eight amateurs, were back in the border town of Jimani (Dominican Republic). Their convoy, which included other non related Dominicans, was assaulted and one person reported dead.

The Radio Amateurs were uninjured but decided to leave the capital for safety and return to the border unescorted. They report the situation as extremely unsafe and scary.

The repeaters they have installed remain in service linking the Haitian and Dominican capitals, and are being used by the Red Cross and Civil Defense since there is no other way to communicate. The station at the Embassy in Haiti could not be activated though.

To confirm, all members of the HCD team are safe and have returned to Jimanji in the Dominican Republic.

In other reports, John Henault HH6JH who is engaged in Missionary work with homeless children in Port au Prince continues to make contacts on 20m using power from a neighbour’s generator and very pleased that amateur radio enabled him to let his friends in the USA know he was alive.

Another radio amateur in the country, Pierre Petry HH2/HB9AMO who works for the UN food program is also safe. However nothing is known at this stage of about another ten hams in Haiti.

Thanks to Ismael EA4FSI, Cesar HR2P and Jim VK3PC for their reports.

by ADMIN User at January 17, 2010 04:19 PM

===============================
From The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) website:
Haiti Earthquake - Update No 1.
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Written by G0DUB
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 23:31
Radio communications has now been established with HH6JH in Haiti, frequencies in use for this disaster are now: 14.300MHz, 14.265MHz, 7.045MHz , 7.265MHz, and 3.977MHz. The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173 Information from www.arrl.org and CQ/WorldRadio Online Newsroom
From the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom:

Some ham radio activity from Haiti is beginning to be heard, following yesterday’s devastating earthquake.
Father John Henault, HH6JH, in Port-au-Prince, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre of Activity frequency for emergency communications. Based on relays monitored at W2VU, Father John reported that he and those with him were safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. He asked the station copying him, William Sturridge, KI4MMZ, in Flagler Beach, Florida, to telephone relatives with information that he was OK.
The following frequencies are in use for earthquake-related traffic and should be kept clear unless you are able to provide requested assistance: 14300 (IATN), 14265 (SATERN); 7045 (IARU Region II) and 3720 (IARU Region II) kHz. Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.
We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.
– The editors

Haiti Earthquake - Update No 2.
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Friday, 15 January 2010 01:04
Some status reports are now coming from Haiti but at the moment , no data regarding survivors or any other 'Health and Welfare' traffic is currently being passed. Anyone trying to trace family or friends in Haiti should register their details with the International Federation of the Red Cross at;
http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/web/doc/siterfl0.nsf/htmlall/familylinks...
The ICRC are co-operating with the Haitian Red Cross Society and other Red Cross/ Red Crescent societies around the world to accelerate the process of restoring contact between separated family members. Further amateur radio support is on its way to the island, Victor Baez, HI8VB, Secretary of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) reports that the RCD with UDRA, Unión Dominicana de Radio Aficionados, are preparing to go to Port au Prince early morning of Friday January 15 to install an emergency radio Communications stastion, HI8RCD/HH, and a mobile station. Victor has a blog which hopefully he will update with more news from Haiti: www.hi8vb.tk
Some countries in Region 1 have activated their own stations to respond to the disaster, Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG has produced some propagation predictions for 40m and 20m assuming the transmitter has an output power of 10 watts (very low power) and a compromise antenna. On all receiver sites on the map (there are hundreds of similar receivers in a grid), it is assumed that there is an antenna whose gain is equivalent to that of an 3-element Yagi and is 55 ft (appr. 17 meters) above the ground. His predictions can be downloaded from:
http://www.voacap.com/hh.zip - 7Mhz propagation predictions
http://www.voacap.com/hh14b.zip - 14MHz propagation predictions
Alonso EA3EPH has produced an alternative MUF prediction available in Spanish at;
http://www.ipellejero.es/remer/emercomms/Estudio_Circuitos_HF_desde_Puer...
Live feeds are available on the internet from receivers better placed in Region 2 where any traffic can be monitored, these feeds are available at http://bit.ly/69Mqbr

Haiti Earthquake - Update No. 3.
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Friday, 15 January 2010 13:54
Frequencies in use from Haiti are now believed to be: 14.300MHz, 14.265MHz, 7.045MHz , 7.065MHz, 7.265MHz, 3.720MHz, 3.977MHz and a 2m repeated on 147.970MHz. The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173 Please keep clear of these frequencies even if you cannot hear any emergency traffic - stations in the area are low powered and may suffer interference. Interesting news from the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) group in Facebook ( Translation by Ismael EA4FSI ):
"During the night of the tragedy, amateur radio operators received a message from the Dominican Red Cross, requesting the use of an amateur radio repeater in order to establish communications between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This repeater started to operate immediately, with the assistance of Mr Joal Cleto HI8RYF and Mr Angel Carpio HI8ABC. Mr Joal Cleto is now leading another group installing additional repeaters in order to improve the communications.

The Radio Club Dominicano has sent communication teams to the neighbour country, in the hope of transmitting from the Dominican Embassy Pétionville, in the following frequencies: 7.045, 7.065, 7.265 and 3.720 (recommended for disasters by IARU) and the 2m repeater in 147.970.

The hams which will operate the Radio Club Dominicano station with callsign HI8RCD/HH are:

Teddy Jimenez HI3TEJ
Candido Guzmán HI8CJG
Fausto Alvarado HI8FLB

We would like to thank Mr. Goyco, who offered the transport logistics to the neighbour country, and INDOTEL for granting the frequencies."

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From The ARRL, courtesy of www.ARRL.org

Haiti Earthquake: "It's Chaos, I'm Telling You -- It's Real Chaos"

On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM Haiti time (2153 UTC), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, the island nation's capital. Communications in and out of Haiti have been disrupted. The ARRL encourages US amateurs to be aware of the emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173.

There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed by Tuesday's quake. Haitian President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands: "Let's say that it's too early to give a number."

Tuesday's quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in Eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place. The January 13 edition of The Daily DX reported that the Rev John Henault, HH6JH, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz; this is the IARU Global Center of Activity frequency for emergency communications. He said that he was safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. The edition also noted that Pierre Petry, HH2/HB9AMO -- who was in Cap Haitien (about 140 km north of Port-au-Prince) is safe; Petry is in Haiti working for the United Nations World Food Program.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fred Moore, W3ZU, assisted Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, with a phone patch to his friend Ariel in Miami. "It's bad, it literally is bad," Gaillard told Ariel. "We don't know how many people are dead. We do not know what to expect. It's chaos, I'm telling you -- it's real chaos. We are really in a disaster area. It's really a war zone. Many, many buildings in the downtown area are stripped from the ground with many people buried underneath them - you name it, it's bad." Gaillard, who lives in Port-au-Prince, was using his neighbor's generator to make the contact. "It's really chaotic. I've never been in a war, but this is what a war zone would be like. Dead bodies all over the place, dead bodies buried. All I can tell you is that I'm okay, my house is okay. We've had 30 aftershocks, the main one yesterday. We are expecting some more shocks, so I'm a bit nervous to be inside the house."

According to IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Chairman Jim Linton, VK3PC, members of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) -- the Dominican Republic's IARU Member-Society -- and Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados (UDRA) are preparing to go to Port au Prince on the morning of Friday, January 15, where they will install HI8RCD/HH, an emergency radio communications station and a mobile station.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate advised that US assets should not self-deploy to affected areas. "Initial reports from Haiti in the wake of yesterday's earthquake are concerning and troubling," he said. "During times like these, the emergency response community always stands ready to assist those in need. The United States Department of State has the lead for foreign disaster assistance, and US assets should deploy only if tasked to do so by the State Department. The most urgent need that the response community can fulfill at this time is supporting ongoing disaster relief fund-raising efforts."

On Thursday, planes carrying teams from China and France, Spain and the United States landed at Port-au-Prince's airport with searchers and tons of water, food, medicine and other supplies -- with more promised from around the globe. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that "tens of thousands, we fear, are dead" and said United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its "cycle of hope and despair." The US Army said a detachment of more than 100 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division was heading out from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, looking for locations to set up tents and other essentials in preparation for the arrival of another 800 personnel on Friday. That's in addition to some 2200 Marines to be sent, as the military prepares to help with security, search and rescue missions and the delivery of humanitarian supplies. More than a half-dozen US military ships also are expected to help, with the largest, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, arriving later Thursday.

Calls to emergency services weren't getting through because systems that connect different phone networks were still not working, said officials from a telecommunications provider in Haiti. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is deploying 40 satellite terminals and 60 units with broadband facility to re-establish basic communication links, along with experts to operate them. The ITU will also set up "a reliable, responsive and complete cellular system designed to enable vital wireless communications aimed at strengthening response and recovery mechanisms in a disaster zone," said ITU Emergency Communications Division Chief Cosmas Zavazava. The ITU has allocated a budget of more than $1 million US dollars to strengthen the disaster response effort in Haiti.

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, HB9EHT, expressed his solidarity with the people of Haiti and offered his condolences to the bereaved victims of the disaster. "The whole world is in shock following the devastation and untold misery caused by the earthquake in Haiti," Dr Touré said. "ITU will do everything possible to provide assistance to the people of Haiti by re-establishing telecommunication links which will be vital in the rescue and rehabilitation efforts in the days ahead."

"The scope of the disaster clearly shows that the response to this is going to be a long term effort," said ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP. "The ARRL has been in contact with communications leaders of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as other key Amateur Radio operators throughout the region. As teams from the hundreds of responding agencies worldwide are formed for deployment, many will have Amateur Radio components. ARRL is committed to providing communications aid to our served agencies and working with the international community in this time of crisis. At this time there are no known requests from agencies for amateurs to travel to Haiti, but this can change. If it develops that there are ARES® assignments for a deployment in Haiti, these will be vetted and processed through each Section's Section Emergency Coordinators."

The situation in Haiti is still chaotic. More information will be posted as soon as possible. Information is being validated and shared between many amateur groups and news sources as it unfolds.

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From RadioReference.com at http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Haiti_Earthquake_2010

.............................................................

Haiti Earthquake 2010

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake centered approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince, Haiti at 4:53:09 p.m. local time (21:53:09 UTC) on Tuesday 12 January 2010. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles (10.0 km). The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of aftershocks, ten of them above magnitude 5.0, including ones measuring 5.9 and 5.5.
This page will serve as a collection point for radio communications data related to the quake.

Contents
[hide]

1 US Military and Coast Guard
1.1 US Coast Guard
1.2 USAF
1.3 USN
1.4 US Army SOUTHCOM operations
1.5 US Dept of Homeland Security
2 CANFORCE Canadian Armed Forces
3 Amateur Radio Operations
4 Local Haiti Operations
5 Live Radio Communications Streams

[edit] US Military and Coast Guard
[edit] US Coast Guard
The COTHEN network is active with US Coast Guard assets passing US Citizen injury reports and damage estimates for Haiti. All frequencies in USB and assets use ALE for call connections. 9025 (HF-GCS) has been noted with ALE traffic
MIAMI - Coast Guard officials in Miami have mobilized cutters and aircraft to positions in close proximity to Haiti to render humanitarian assistance as needed.
Deployed to the area are:
.The crew of a C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla. .The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant, a 210-foot reliance class cutter homeported in Miami. .The crew of the Coast Guard Cutters Forward, a 270-foot medium endurance cutters homeported in Portsmouth, Va. .The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma, a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, N.H. .The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk, a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Key West, Fla.
Additional Coast Guard assets patrolling the area have been alerted of the situation and stand by to render assistance as needed.
The Coast Guard is also using their standard HF frequencies for operations as well:
Callsigns: CamsLant/Camslant Chesapeake= Communications Master Station-Atlantic- Chesapeake Virginia
CamsPac/CamsPac Point Reyes-Communications Master Station-Pacific, Point Reyes, CA.

5696
8983
11201

COTHEN Net:
Callsigns: Service Center= US Customs National Law Enforcement Communications Center -- Technical Service Center and COTHEN Remote Transmitter, Orlando, FL.
CamsLant Chesapeake CamsPac Point Reyes

5732.0
5909.5
6709.0
7527.0
8912.0
10242.0
11196.0
11494.0
12222.0
13907.0
14582.0
15867.0
18584.0
20890.0
20662.0
23214.0
25530.0

[edit] USAF
9018.0 USB is active with USAF REACH assets (Airlift Assets) coordinating their arrivals into Haiti.
8992.0 and 11175.0 are active with phone patches and general traffic on the USAF High Frequency Global Communications System
[edit] USN
The US Navy is very active on 8971 with TIGER-01, FIDDLE, CARDFILE-02 and other assets coordinating P-3 radar communications and data links back to the US. Assume these taskings are to provide tactical data links for assets on scene.
Link 11 Coordination Net is active, and has been heard on:

* 5.715.4 MHz
* 8.975.4 MHz
* 9.005.4 MHz

All communications have been in USB. In addition, data has been sent on 5.715.4 MHz.
[edit] US Army SOUTHCOM operations
MIAMI - U.S. Southern Command will deploy a team of 30 people to Haiti to support U.S. relief efforts in the aftermath of yesterday's devastating earthquake.
The team, which includes U.S. military engineers, operational planners, and a command and control group and communication specialists, will arrive in Haiti today on two C-130 Hercules aircraft. The team will work with U.S. Embassy personnel as well as Haitian, United Nations and international officials to assess the situation and facilitate follow on U.S. military support.

11205
11436
15025 (possibly)

11205.0 USB has been active working assets transitioning the area. Callsign SMASHER and SHARK-97, SHARK-98 and others.
[edit] US Dept of Homeland Security
US Customs and Border Protection has a P-3 AWACS Aircraft on station over Haiti providing air traffic control and other coordination duties. The aircraft on scene is N145CS presumably out of the Jacksonville CBP air branch. The P-3 is coordinating assets on 345.0 AM in addition to using the COTHEN network for HF communications.
[edit] CANFORCE Canadian Armed Forces
Canada is sending a reconnaissance team to Haiti to assess the needs from the major earthquake as government agencies and private citizens tried Wednesday to reach Canadians known to be in the devastated country. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the reconnaissance team will provide guidance for the deployment of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, a military quick-reaction force for humanitarian aid. A C-17 transport plane and two Griffon-type search-and-rescue helicopters are standing by to help with relief efforts in Haiti following the destructive quake that hit Tuesday afternoon. It's not immediately clear when the aircraft will depart from Canada. "More equipment is to be deployed based on the needs assessment," Cannon said in Ottawa.

5717 - Halifax & Trenton Military
6706 - Halifax Military
9007 - Halifax & Trenton Military
11232 - Trenton Military

[edit] Amateur Radio Operations
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK requested that the following frequencies be kept clear for emergency traffic related to the quake.

7045 kHz
3720 kHz

SATERN Nets are active on these frequencies:

14.265 MHz Primary Daytime.
7265 and 3977.7 KHz evening and night

The Maritime Mobile Service Network maintained its net and directly coordinated traffic in and out of the affected area. Phone patches were also arranged and moved off to nearby frequencies.

14300 kHz Primary
14313 kHz Phone Patches

The Global ALE High Frequency Network (HFN) is on alert and ready to communicate using the following frequencies:
HFN net (text/internet/sounding/calling)

3596.0 USB
7102.0 USB
10145.5 USB
14109.0 USB
18106.0 USB
21096.0 USB
24926.0 USB
28146.0 USB

HFL net (emcomm/voice/calling)

3791.0 USB
7185.5 USB
14346.0 USB
18117.5 USB
21437.5 USB
24932.0 USB
28312.5 USB

[edit] Local Haiti Operations
USCG Herc-20 passed the following info to USCG District 7 during a phone patch through DHS Service Center

127.0 VHF AM used for all UN Aircraft operating in the vicinity of Haiti
124.5 VHF AM is Port au Prince Temporary tower frequency

USCG Aircraft passed the following info on 1/15/2010:
124.5 Approach
118.3 Port Au Prince Tower
130.0 Port Au Prince Ground Control
[edit] Live Radio Communications Streams
RadioReference Live Audio Feeds related to the Haiti earthquake are located here:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?stid=283
In addition, W2LIE.net is streaming SATERN traffic from NY. Current radio is TS-450 with a Cushcraft R-7.
Listen on the "/Special" Feed http://www.w2lie.net
EchoLink VOIP Stream: http://live.wx5fwd.net/

1-19-10
Haiti Rescue Efforts a Mix of Elation and Grief
Marines Poised Offshore to Assist in Haitian Relief Efforts
By LEE FERRAN, JEFFREY KOFMAN, DAN HARRIS and KATE SNOW
...........................................................
Jan. 18, 2010—

Like so many of the quake rescues happening in Haiti, this one was a mix if elation and grief.

The race against the clock began when Port-au-Prince resident Jean Louis Paul Jr. was digging through the rubble of his home and he heard "tapping" from the remains of the building below.

Paul asked whoever was underneath to tap three times if they heard him. They did.

Soon, a search and rescue team from Miami-Dade was on site and said they heard the voice of 14-year-old Frangina, who said she was trapped and two boys were nearby.

The rescue team worked as quickly and as safely as they could.

Click here for complete coverage of Haiti's devastating earthquake

After six hours, 6-year-old Nazer Erne emerged in the arms of a rescuer looking gaunt and dusty. He smiled at the paramedics who attended to him, saying he felt no pain and only suffered a chipped tooth.

Hours later, Frangina was carried out. Instead of smiling, however, she was distraught that the 5-year-old boy who was alo buried in the rubble, Kevin Orialy Monjeune, did not survive.

The rescuers did not get to savor the rescue of Nazer and Frangina. Kevin's father and stepmother, Jean Harvelt Monjeune and Marjorie Boursiquot, live in Margate, Fla., and were initially elated because they had been told Kevin was alive. The rescue team's leader immediately got on the phone to give them the heartbreaking news.

In addition, Kevin's mother also died in the building's collapse. Her body was still in the rubble.

American search and rescue teams from Florida, New York, Virginia and California have pulled 35 people from the wreckage of Haiti's earthquake, including 10 on Sunday which the Haiti Joint Information Center said is "the largest number of rescues in a single day in decades of earthquake search."

"Everybody gets pretty amped up when they have a live person in there," USAID rescuer Joe Kaleda told "Good Morning Ameria" today. "We want to get them out of there as quick as we can."

Increasingly desperate Haitians were seeing more aide work its way in from the jammed airport, from trucks in the Dominican Republic and from ships offshore.

The numbers are staggering. Roughly 200,000 people may have been killed, the European Union said, quoting Haitian officials who also said about 70,000 bodies have been recovered so far. EU officials estimated that about 250,000 were injured and 1.5 million were homeless.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he wants to beef up the international peacekeeping force in Haiti with 1,500 additional police and 2,000 troops. The U.N. already has more than 9,000 soldiers and police in Haiti.

But officials also feared that sporadic looting could become more widespread if help does not soon reach the millions of Haitians who have gone without food, water, medical care and shelter for seven days.

Haitian riot police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of looters in the city's downtown as several nearby shops burned.

"We've been ordered not to shoot at people unless completely necessary," said Pierre Roger, a Haitian police officer who spoke as yet another crowd of looters ran by. "We're too little, and these people are too desperate."

The U.S. military is trying to break through the logjam. The 82nd Airborne, which has 950 soldiers in Haiti, has orders from the Pentagon to get 3,500 deployed to the island by today to help Haitians to support the police in keeping order. Thousands of Marines are poised offshore on Navy ships, and helicopters are ferrying supplies to the island and taking patients to medical facilities offshore.

Haiti Aid Still Stuck in Bottleneck

Despite the avalanche of supplies and emergency teams that have swarmed to Haiti, the inaibility to travel around the ruined roads and to communicate has made it difficult to get the aid to those who need it.

Tim Traynor told ABC News that he and a surgery/traumal team have set up a hospital facility ready to take care of 100 patients in Milot, 75 miles north of Port-au-Prince, but said he had received only four patients. He also said there is a helicopter landing zone adjacent to the facility.

"My surgeons are just sitting on their hands while people are dying," the frustrated Traynor said and appealed to the media to get word out to rescue officials that help was available.

A French official also sniped at the U.S. today after a French plane carrying a field hospital was turned away from the overcrowded airfield which is now being run by air traffic controllers from the U.S. Air Force. The plane was later allowed to land.

French Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet said he wants the United Nations to clarify the U.S. role in Haiti's emergency.

"This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti," Joyandet said.

With Port-au-Prince's port destroyed and the airport clogged, a six-hour journey along a dusty road to the Dominican Republic is the only way some relief organizations can get their supplies to those in need. As they drive in, the relief workers pass Haitians heading the other direction, seeking refuge or medical attention in the Dominican Republic.

In the Dominican border town of Jimani, there was a stream of seriously injured Haitians are unloaded from vans and pickup trucks. There, the hospital with 32 beds, is caring for more than 200 patients.

At least 70,000 bodies have been recovered from the rubble, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told ABC News Sunday, but official and unofficial estimates of the final death toll have ranged up to 200,000.

In addition to bodies collected by the Haitian government, it is believed many were disposed of privately and thousands more remain uncollected.

The U.S. State Department said 18 Americans are known to be among the dead.

Aid continues to move slowly, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"Significant amounts of emergency aid have arrived in quake-struck Port-au-Prince," the ICRC wrote in a statement Sunday. "The challenge now is to get it to survivors as quickly as possible. Further assessments confirm that the damage is widespread and immense. Very few neighborhoods have been spared, while local infrastructure and services have been wiped out."

Despite limited relief supplies flowing into the country, many Haitians still are living in the streets without access to food and water.

The smell of death hangs over Port-au-Prince.

Victims Pulled From Shattered Buildings

According to the U.N., 40 international search-and-rescue teams including nearly 1,800 rescue workers and more than 160 dogs are combing through the rubble looking for survivors.

Contrary to local grumbling, those rescued mostly have been Haitians, U.S. officials said. According to numbers from Sunday, only six or seven of 62 people rescued were Americans, with most of the others being Haitians, the officials reported.

The Miami-Dade firefighters also pulled a 3-year-old girl from a ruined house on Sunday.

Also over the weekend, a joint Urban Rescue Team of New York police and firefighters pulled two men and a teenage girl alive from the rubble of a Port-au-Prince grocery store housed in a three-story building that collapsed in Tuesday's earthquake, the NYPD said. The three survived on the grocery store's inventory of food and water.

The NYPD/FDNY team later rescued a man who was trapped in the rubble of a four-story building on Rue Belencourt in Port-au-Prince.

In addition, The Associated Press reported that Virginia firefighters pulled U.N. civil affairs officer Jens Christensen of Denmark from the rubble of the ruined U.N. building, other teams rescued a woman from a collapsed university building, and Montana Hotel co-owner Nadine Cardoso was saved from that wrecked building.

Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures
A US Navy helicopter lands in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, 19 Jan 2010

The U.S. military has begun airdropping desperately needed food and water to Haitian earthquake survivors in an effort to overcome congestion at the airport and other obstacles to delivering aid.

A U.S. Air Force plane dropped more than 14,000 "ready-to-eat" meals and 15,000 liters of water into an area north of the capital, Port-au-Prince. It was the U.S. military's first such airdrop since the deadly earthquake in Haiti one week ago.

U.S. defense officials had ruled out airdrops before, saying they would cause chaos among survivors and potentially lead to riots. But the military says it has since secured certain areas for the operation.

U.S. troops also descended by helicopter Tuesday onto the grounds of the shattered presidential palace to deliver aid to people in the area.

The rest of the international community is also stepping up relief efforts in Haiti.

The United Nations Security Council is expected Tuesday to approve a request for 3,500 more troops and police to bolster peacekeeping efforts in the battered Caribbean nation.

Relief efforts have been hampered by numerous problems, including blocked roads, bureaucratic confusion, and the collapse of local authority. As aid workers struggle to meet the needs of earthquake victims, some Haitians are leaving the capital in an effort to reach the countryside.

U.S. commanders say more than 10,000 military personnel will be either in Haiti or just offshore in the coming weeks.

About 2,200 U.S. Marines arrived for duty Monday aboard the amphibious ship USS Bataan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says U.S. troops in Haiti will support the government there as well as the United Nations peacekeeping mission, but will not take on an expanded policing role. Gates also told reporters that U.S. troops have the authority to use force to defend themselves or others, if necessary.

World leaders have promised massive amounts of assistance to rebuild Haiti, after last Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude quake. Officials estimate that about 200,000 people may have been killed in the quake, and an estimated 3 million people - about a third of Haiti's population - have been affected.

Survivors have been living in makeshift camps on streets littered with debris and decomposing bodies. Security concerns have grown as hundreds of looters have broken into shops, taking whatever they can and fighting each other.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, visited Port-au-Prince Monday. He reviewed disaster relief efforts and met with Haitian President René Preval. Mr. Clinton also personally delivered emergency relief supplies, including water, food, medical supplies, and portable radios and generators.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Please Note The Sevier County Emergency Radio Service is still active and monitoring the HF bands for any traffic for the TN,KY,GA,NC,VA area's ..thanks to all the members for your help..

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From Public Version Of The FEMA Daily Situation Report of Saturday, January 16, 2010:

7.0M Haiti Earthquake Update
Current Situation:
• Basic infrastructure, telephone, cell phone, power grid, and water services has been severely degraded. Water and sanitation remain a priority.
• Violence is expected to increase due to the absence of relief supplies.
• Traffic is beginning to clog the road from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Port-au-Prince as aid organizations begin to transport relief commodities overland.
• The Toussaint L’ Ouverture International Airport (Port-au-Prince) is fully operational, but is limiting activity to humanitarian flights.
• The President of Haiti agreed to allow the United States to provide traffic flow management for relief flights into Haiti from 6:00 pm EST January 15, 2010, to 6:00 pm EST January 18, 2010.
FAA is coordinating details with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),
NORTHCOM, SOUTHCOM, DOS, the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) surrounding Haiti, and the US Embassy in Haiti.
• The Port-au-Prince port (which has sustained damage to the port building and piers) remains inoperable. USCG and DOD port assessments are ongoing.
• At least 8 hospitals and/or health centers have collapsed or sustained serious damage and are unable to function.
• American citizens continue to be evacuated from Haiti. Eighty-six Americans have been evacuated to either Miami or Homestead by USAF. Seventy-three were flown by USCG to Santo Domingo. (HHS, PAHO, OFDA, USCG)

FEMA HQ:
National Response Coordination Center (NRCC)

• Activated at Level II (24/7) with ESF’s 6, 9, IRSCC, and Liaison Officers for the Department of Defense (DOD), State Department (DOS), and US Coast Guard (USCG) activated.
• A FEMA liaison is activated at the State Department and a FEMA representative has been deployed to the Haiti Unified Command Group. Logistics Management Directorate (LMD)
• Logistics Objective: Assist FL DEM with Incident Management and Coordination, Support ISB Operations at Homestead with possible follow on to Port of Miami, Support operations at NAS Jacksonville
• An Incident Support Base has been opened at Homestead ARB by the Logistics Management Directorate.
• The following commodities are staged at or en route to Homestead ARB for delivery:
Meals: 823,364 Blankets: 20,406
Water (Liters): 398,480 Hygiene Kits: 25,200
Cots: 9,263 Wash Kits: 7,200
Tarps: 48,428 Rolls of Plastic Sheeting: 369

Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT)

National IMAT-West was on the ground in Haiti as of midnight, Jan 16.

Urban Search and Rescue (US&R):

10 US&R task forces have been activated for deployment to Haiti.
The US&R deployment schedule will maintain 10 teams in Haiti through Jan 19; 9 teams through Jan 24; and 8 teams through Jan 31.
• US&R VA-1 arrived in Haiti Jan 13 and 14. VA-1 US&R teams conducted numerous rescues, including at least 7 American citizens trapped at the Hotel Montana.
• US&R VA-2 (Virginia Beach) in Haiti as of Jan 15
• US&R CA-2 (LA County) in Haiti as of Jan 14. CA-2 US&R Team conducted the successful rescue of a citizen at the Ministry of Education.
• US&R CA-5 (Orange County) staged at March ARB, awaiting transportation.
• US&R CA-7 (Sacramento) staged at Travis AFB, awaiting transportation.
• US&R FL-1 (Miami-Dade) in Haiti as of Jan 14.
• US&R FL-2 (Miami) in Haiti as of Jan 14.
• US&R NY-1 (City of New York) staged at Stewart ANGB, awaiting transportation.
• US&R TX-1 (College Station) staged at Ellington Field, awaiting transportation.
• US&R OH-1 (Miami Valley) staged at Wright Patterson AFB, awaiting transportation.
• US&R Incident Support Team (IST) is staged at Homestead ARB, awaiting transportation.

Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS)

• Thomasville, GA MERS: 6 personnel have arrived in Haiti; the remainder of the team is at Homestead ARB, FL awaiting transportation.
• Frederick, Maryland MERS: Activated in support of US&R operations; 2 personnel have arrived in Haiti; the remainder of the team is at Frederick, MD awaiting transportation.
Frederick MERS Forward Communications truck is on the ground in Haiti
• Maynard, MA MERS advance team is at Homestead ARB awaiting airlift transportation to Portau-Prince; Maynard MERS personnel and equipment at McGuire AFB, NJ awaiting airlift transportation to Port-au-Prince. Additional Maynard personnel and equipment en route to McGuire AFB, NJ for transport.

FEMA External Affairs
• External Affairs will continue to coordinate with the Department of State and USAID to support local operations centers.
• A FEMA External Affairs Team is activated and on the ground in Haiti.

FEMA Regional Coordination
FEMA Region II is at Modified Level IV (24/7) Watch (monitoring),
FEMA Region IV is activated at Level II (Partial Activation) (7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. EST) with ESFs 1, 6, 8, 11, and 13 activated.
• Region IV IMAT has arrived at the Florida Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to assist with Survivor Support Planning and coordination.
• The Governor of Florida signed an Executive Order Number 10-6, effective January 15, activating the Florida National Guard for the duration of this emergency.
• Logistics Planning and Response Team (PRT) and the Logistics Team supporting ISB operations at Homestead ARB with possible follow-on to the Port of Miami.

Other Federal Activities
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast (HSTF-SE) is activated and tasked to develop a Course of Action in support of USAID.
• DHS announced the designation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals that were in the U.S. as of Jan 12. This designation will allow eligible Haitian nationals in the U.S. to continue living and working in our country for the next 18 months.
• All in-country DHS personnel are accounted for.

Department of Defense (DoD)
• DoD is providing 600,000 Humanitarian Daily Rations for World Food Program immediate relief efforts, scheduled to arrive in country on Jan 15.
• Approximately 4,000 US military personnel will be in Haiti by Jan 16 and 10,000 personnel by Jan 18.
• Approximately 600 military personnel (82nd Airborne) are on the ground to provide humanitarian assistance and support logistics.
• Several commodity flights have been planned over the next 10 days, and location of commodity distribution sites is in progress.
• US SOUTHCOM reports 2 key medical facilities treating foreign aid workers for Haitian nationals
• Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ) Forward has been activated, is ready for shipment from Tampa, and is awaiting 2 C17s and priority.
• Air Force providing 10 Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units, delivery expected within 48-96
hrs.
• The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is in Haiti; (3) intensive care and an additional 51 patient beds, 19
helicopters, 35K/day portable water production and 30 pallets of commodities
• 1 U.S. Navy Hospital Ship (USNS Comfort) is scheduled to arrive on Jan 20
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
• The 4 USACE Southern Area District (SAD) Engineers are at Homestead ARB waiting for a flight
to Haiti

US Coast Guard (USGS)
• Coast Guard deployed 4 Coast Guard Cutters to Haiti: Coast Guard Cutter VALIANT, Coast Guard Cutter MOHAWK & TAHOMA, Coast Guard Cutter FORWARD, and Coast Guard Cutter VENTUROUS. Missions included setting up a medical triage unit at Killick-Garde Cote Base, assessments of conditions at secondary ports, assessment of supply / resupply capabilities, and patrolling Straits,
• First aid / Triage being provided to Haitians in the vicinity of Killick-Garde Cote Base.
National Communications System
• Limited mobile, internet, and wire line service is available in Port-au-Prince; however, excessive
use, need for backup generators and lack of fuel are the most significant issues.
• Radio and television services are extremely limited in Port au Prince, but are functioning throughout the rest of the country.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
• An MOU was signed by the Prime Minister of Haiti and the United Sates Ambassador to Haiti to authorize the delivery of humanitarian commodities and relief supplies in Haiti.
• 214 HHS medical response personnel are currently in Haiti, with 51 personnel yet to arrive, awaiting transportation in Turks Island.
• The Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT) is setting up in country; coordinating with USAID/DART and US Embassy. Two USAID/OFDA (Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance) - funded C-130 aircraft are carrying emergency relief supplies from the USAID/OFDA Miami warehouse to Port-au-Prince. Commodities include 2,800 hygiene kits, 6,000 ten-liter water containers, 480 kitchen sets, and two mobile water treatment units.
• 12 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs), 2 Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORTs), a Family Assistance Center Team and a Disaster Portable Morgue Unit are activated in support of medical response operations in Haiti.

1-20-10 Updates
Strong aftershock rattles Haitians
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Aftershock strongest to hit Haiti since last week's quake
* Magnitude-6.1 aftershock strikes southern Haiti
* U.S. Navy ship nears Haitian coast, bringing relief to overloaded hospitals, clinics
* Doctors say they are running low on supplies; some forced to use hacksaws on patients

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- A strong aftershock rocked Haiti on Wednesday morning just as much-needed medical aid was set to reach the earthquake-ravaged nation.

The 6.1-magnitude aftershock was about 6.2 miles deep, with an epicenter about 35 miles (60 kilometers) west-southwest of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

It rattled people struggling to recover from the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that walloped the impoverished country January 12, killing at least 72,000 people.

Such a strong tremor can pose significant danger in a nation where damaged buildings are teetering precariously. The aftershock was the strongest to hit Haiti since last week's original quake, the USGS said.

The largest aftershock before Wednesday was magnitude 5.9, the agency said.

The 7.0 earthquake was 32 times stronger in terms of magnitude -- or energy released -- than the 6.1 temblor, said Carrieann Bedwell, a geophysicist with the USGS. That difference is what people feel on the ground, she said.

Patients at a hospital near Haiti's airport in Port-au-Prince immediately started praying as the ground shook like a ship rocking back and forth. They asked for forgiveness and protection, a nurse said.

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At least one injury was reported in the moments after the aftershock, which struck at 6:03 a.m. ET.

See the latest updates

The aftershock jolted Haiti as much-needed medical reinforcement approached offshore in the form of a state-of-the-art hospital aboard a U.S. naval ship.

The U.S. Navy ship Comfort is to arrive midmorning Wednesday in the flattened capital. U.S. helicopters will ferry patients aboard, bringing relief to overloaded hospitals and clinics.

Two severely injured Haitians already have been transported to the hospital ship as it sailed toward Haiti, the U.S. Defense Department said.

The patients -- a 6-year-old boy with a crushed pelvis and 20-year-old man with a broken skull and possibly fractured cervical vertebrae -- had been treated initially on the USS Carl Vinson, a U.S. aircraft carrier docked off the Haitian capital.

Tight airspace, poor communications hinder aid effort
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Port-au-Prince airport "can't handle all the aid," Oxfam spokesman says
* Hundreds of planes trying to land at airport, which has one runway, military officer says
* Oxfam: Phone line damage makes it difficult for aid agencies to communicate
* Northern Haiti hospital: We have plenty of free beds, but no easy way to get patients here

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Limited runway space and battered telecommunications networks are hindering efforts to get food, water and medical aid into the hands of desperate Haitians amid the devastation of last week's earthquake, relief agencies said Monday.

Doctors Without Borders reported that flights carrying critical medical equipment were being diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic. Oxfam warned that fuel shortages could be on the horizon. And a volunteer at a hospital in northern Haiti said he has large numbers of open beds, but no way to get patients there from Port-au-Prince.

"My surgeons are sitting around looking at each other, wondering why they came," Tim Traynor told CNN.

While visiting the injured at a U.N. clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haitian President Rene Preval said his ravaged population -- already the Western Hemisphere's poorest -- needs medicine, food and long-term reconstruction assistance.

"The more we receive help, the more we can take care of them," he said.

Louis Belanger, a spokesman for Oxfam in Port-au-Prince, said many roads have been cleared of debris since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday. That has allowed trucks to deliver aid to parts of the capital and its suburbs that had been cut off by collapsed buildings.

But with thousands of tons of aid heading into Haiti, the airport in Port-au-Prince "can't handle all the aid that's coming through," Belanger said.

The U.S. military has been helping Haitian authorities direct air traffic around Port-au-Prince, said Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. Joint Task Force Haiti. But he said "literally hundreds" of flights are trying to land at Port-au-Prince, which has "one tarmac, one runway, one ramp for all the aircraft."

"It is a sheer volume issue," he said. "There are more planes that want to land here than we can accommodate in any given hour."

Bypassing the airport, the U.S. Air Force began dropping supplies by parachute into Haiti on Monday. A C-17 transport flying from North Carolina dropped more than 55,000 pounds of supplies, including 6,900 bottles of water and more than 42,000 packets of combat rations, about five miles northeast of Port-au-Prince.

In addition, Belanger said, the damage to phone lines and wireless networks has made it difficult for aid agencies to communicate with each other and with the United Nations, which is in charge of coordinating relief efforts.

Full coverage of the quake

"What we want to do is coordinate that aid so that we don't just truck in a lorry full of bottled water in a crowded area without any planning beforehand," he said. Haiti's damaged phone network "really posed a huge challenge, and it still does."

In an interview on CNN's "Amanpour" program Monday afternoon, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said effectively orchestrating the flow of millions of dollars of aid into the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation is "a great challenge at this time." But he said U.N. officials have requested transport helicopters from the U.S. government and other assistance from the European Union, and is trying to improve port facilities to get more aid ashore.

"I know that there is a frustration amongst Haitian people, but when I met them, from their faces, I have seen that they have great hope and they are great, resilient people," said Ban, who visited Haiti over the weekend. "And I told them ... to be more patient, because (the) whole world (is) standing behind them."

iReport: Quake victims | Looking for loved ones

The next issue relief workers may have to tackle is fuel, needed to run not only vehicles but also generators that are now powering critical equipment, Belanger said.

"The fuel issue cannot become the problem," he said. "It needs to be tackled, and it needs to be tackled soon."

Benoit Leduc, head of operations in Haiti for Doctors Without Borders, said five of the group's supply planes have been diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic rather than being allowed to land in Port-au-Prince. He told reporters Monday that coordination is "not existing, or not efficient at this stage."

"It's an issue," Leduc said. "I don't really know who is in charge."

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Leduc said the diversion of flights to the Dominican Republic has set back plans to erect a portable field hospital by 48 hours -- a critical time when many of injured survivors of the earthquake are now suffering from life-threatening infections.

Meanwhile, in the northern town of Milot, medical volunteer Traynor said the Sacre Coeur Hospital has more than 200 beds and a nearby soccer field where helicopters can land but few patients. He said the U.S. Coast Guard has flown some injured people up from Port-au-Prince, "one or two or three or four people at a time."

"We are within 30 minutes by air. We could take 200 to 300 people. We can do amputations. We have a fully operational trauma center, and no patients," he said.

Impact Your World

Carol Fipp, another volunteer at Sacre Coeur, said eight patients have made it to Milot from Port-au-Prince on their own, taking about seven hours to complete the 75-mile drive. The hospital had fewer than 30 patients Monday afternoon.

"Shout it from the mountaintops: We need helicopters," she said.

CNN's Matt Smith, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Karen Denice and Allison Blakely contributed to this report.

Infrastructure limits ability to move aid in Haiti
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Capital's airport, country's roads and ports were devastated by last week's earthquake
* Haiti's crumpled infrastructure chief obstacle to fresh supplies as well as food and water
* Some equipment and other materials coming into Haiti by road from Dominican Republic
* Officials looking into the possibility of opening an airstrip at Haitian city of Jacmel

(CNN) -- A week into the Haitian disaster, the desperate and dusty faces of both survivors and rescuers tell a plaintive story: We need more, more, more. And fast.

The capital's airport, the country's roads and its ports were devastated by last week's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, leaving Haiti's crumpled infrastructure the chief obstacle to fresh supplies as well as food and water.

"The significant limiting factor in terms of our ability to move forward is a reality of the infrastructure in Haiti," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Tuesday.

"But to the credit of the United States military, we started the operation (at Port-au-Prince's airport) with maybe 20 or so flights a day. They're now up well over 100."

The goal, he said, is to double that number. Opening a second runway would help, he said. So, too, would lighting at the airport.

Search list of missing and found

"Last night, we couldn't see to land the plane that was supposed to land," said Renzo Fricke, the chief of Haiti operations for the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. "The night before we were supposed to receive two planes that couldn't land. The night before it was the same. That's our fourth plane that's not able to land."

Fricke told CNN's Christiane Amanpour Tuesday that although the organization was "facing huge problems" in receiving supplies, the work went on.

"This morning we had to buy a saw in the market, in the city ... for our surgeons to do amputations," he said. "We had to buy a saw because our materials -- the medical equipment is not coming as it should arrive."

Fricke said that some equipment and other materials are coming into Haiti by road from the Dominican Republic, a route that Crowley cited as one of several that are slowly being opened to channel aid. The airport, the ports, U.S. Navy ships with helicopters and a U.S. Marine unit are all important to getting vital supplies into the country, Crowley said.

High-resolution images of damage

Maj. Gen. Dan Allyn, the U.S. commander of the Haiti task force, told reporters that Haiti should see some "initial operating capacity" at its ports by the end of the week -- including the capability of bringing in fuel needed to take trucks into more remote areas.

Additionally, he said that officials were looking into the possibility of opening an airstrip at the city of Jacmel "to relieve some of the immediate pressure on Port-au-Prince airfield."

Cassandra Nelson, spokeswoman for Mercy Corps, which has a long-standing program in Haiti, said that aid is clearly increasing daily, but much more needs to be done.

"Operations here have been an incredible challenge, and Mercy Corps has done emergency response for years and years and is very seasoned," she said. "[But] we have to say this is probably one of the hardest ones we've had.

"We are working out of an office. Right now our office is overflowing. It's a place where we all sleep, we all eat granola bars, and we all do our work there."

Full coverage | Twitter updates

A more-than-welcome sight arrives off Haiti Wednesday morning: the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort, a state-of-the-art hospital ship that saw duty during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans and the 2001 terror attacks in New York, among others.

The ship, which can house up to 1,000 patients, brings with it more than 1,000 medical and support personnel.

But on the ground, caregivers struggle to provide the kind of care their patients need. Dr. Robert Fuller of the International Medical Corps, a group of volunteer medical personnel, said that his group is hoping to have intensive-care units in "a handful of days."

"Things are coming together, but it is certainly not the way it is back home," he said. "Right now we have seven operating rooms up and running on the campus. We could really use 20 probably. At times we run so low on medications that it gets difficult to know whether we will continue to operate."

Dr. Mark Hyman from Partners in Health, which also has a long-standing program in Haiti, said the military effort to get Haiti running again is working, but the need is simply unimaginable.

"Look, there's hundreds of thousands of patients that are injured," he said. "There's hundreds of thousands of others that have been killed probably, that we haven't even accounted for, and there's 150 nurses buried a few feet from here in the rubble of the nursing building."

And even those military personnel on the ground were spread widely. Brig. Gen. Floriano Peixoto, force commander of the Brazilian troops who make up the U.N. command in Haiti, said his soldiers were there to do whatever is needed.

"We understand that the country deserves more in terms of humanitarian aid and security, but our forces are dedicated to different fronts, including aid, security, search or bodies, recovery of missing people," he said. "It's a large amount of tasks to be done."
.............................................................

On The Amateur Side..
REVISED Jan 19, 2010 08:21 ET
Dominican Hams Attempt to Install Repeaters in Haiti

Eight members of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) -- the Dominican Republic's IARU Member-Society -- and Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados (UDRA) arrived in Haiti on Friday, January 15, to install an emergency radio communications station and a mobile station. Shortly after they arrived, the hams returned to the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.

The team -- using the call sign HI8RCD/HH -- had to shut down their operations after their convoy was fired on. Germinal Garcia, EB9GF, who is integrated in the Spanish Red Cross contingent, was able to contact colleagues at the RCD. According to IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB, the RCD initially reported that their team crossed the Haitian border at 1550 UTC, time arriving at the Dominican Embassy in Haiti at 1929 UTC when they started installing and testing their equipment.

"Within a few hours though, reports via the RCD Facebook page -- confirmed by a long telephone conversation between Hugo Ramón, HI8VRS, and Ramon Santoyo, XE1KK -- reported that the HI8RCD team of eight amateurs were back in the [Dominican Republic] border town of Jimani," Mossop said. "Their convoy, which included other non related Dominicans, was assaulted and one person is reported dead. The radio amateurs are uninjured, but they decided to leave the capital for safety [reasons] and return to the border unescorted. They report the situation as 'extremely unsafe.'"

On Saturday afternoon at 2104 UTC, Rafael Martinez, HI8ROX, posted this to the RCD's Facebook page: "I regret to inform you that the communications equipment is returning to Jimani due to the lack of security that there is in Haiti. The convoy was attacked as the team was leaving the embassy, with several wounded people confirmed. I do not know how many. For the moment, our equipment is safe, but I'm not sure." Martinez is the RCD's Web master.

On January 19, Martinez told the ARRL that two non-ham members of the team suffered "bad injuries," but no one had been killed, as had been reported earlier: "The gentleman who was behind the RCD convoy was very severely wounded (not deceased), although the first news was that he had passed away. The gentleman only is very severely wounded along with another person."

The team was able to install two VHF repeaters in the Dominican Republic linking that country's capital -- Santo Domingo -- and Port-au-Prince, but only one is in operation: 146.880 (-600), CTCSS 100 Hz. Mossop said that these repeaters are being used by the Red Cross and Civil Defense "since there is no other way to communicate. The station at the embassy in Haiti could not be activated. To confirm, all members of the RCD team are safe and have returned to Jimani in the Dominican Republic."

On the morning of Monday, January 18, Martinez wrote that "the equipment that was returned to Santo Domingo is all being sent to Jimani and then sporadically to Port-au-Prince."

From The ARRL Website In Review..

Haiti Earthquake: "It's Chaos, I'm Telling You -- It's Real Chaos"

On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM Haiti time (2153 UTC), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, the island nation's capital. Communications in and out of Haiti have been disrupted. The ARRL encourages US amateurs to be aware of the emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173.

There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed by Tuesday's quake. Haitian President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands: "Let's say that it's too early to give a number."

Tuesday's quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in Eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place. The January 13 edition of The Daily DX reported that the Rev John Henault, HH6JH, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz; this is the IARU Global Center of Activity frequency for emergency communications. He said that he was safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. The edition also noted that Pierre Petry, HH2/HB9AMO -- who was in Cap Haitien (about 140 km north of Port-au-Prince) is safe; Petry is in Haiti working for the United Nations World Food Program.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fred Moore, W3ZU, assisted Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, with a phone patch to his friend Ariel in Miami. "It's bad, it literally is bad," Gaillard told Ariel. "We don't know how many people are dead. We do not know what to expect. It's chaos, I'm telling you -- it's real chaos. We are really in a disaster area. It's really a war zone. Many, many buildings in the downtown area are stripped from the ground with many people buried underneath them - you name it, it's bad." Gaillard, who lives in Port-au-Prince, was using his neighbor's generator to make the contact. "It's really chaotic. I've never been in a war, but this is what a war zone would be like. Dead bodies all over the place, dead bodies buried. All I can tell you is that I'm okay, my house is okay. We've had 30 aftershocks, the main one yesterday. We are expecting some more shocks, so I'm a bit nervous to be inside the house."

According to IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Chairman Jim Linton, VK3PC, members of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) -- the Dominican Republic's IARU Member-Society -- and Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados (UDRA) are preparing to go to Port au Prince on the morning of Friday, January 15, where they will install HI8RCD/HH, an emergency radio communications station and a mobile station.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate advised that US assets should not self-deploy to affected areas. "Initial reports from Haiti in the wake of yesterday's earthquake are concerning and troubling," he said. "During times like these, the emergency response community always stands ready to assist those in need. The United States Department of State has the lead for foreign disaster assistance, and US assets should deploy only if tasked to do so by the State Department. The most urgent need that the response community can fulfill at this time is supporting ongoing disaster relief fund-raising efforts."

On Thursday, planes carrying teams from China and France, Spain and the United States landed at Port-au-Prince's airport with searchers and tons of water, food, medicine and other supplies -- with more promised from around the globe. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that "tens of thousands, we fear, are dead" and said United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its "cycle of hope and despair." The US Army said a detachment of more than 100 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division was heading out from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, looking for locations to set up tents and other essentials in preparation for the arrival of another 800 personnel on Friday. That's in addition to some 2200 Marines to be sent, as the military prepares to help with security, search and rescue missions and the delivery of humanitarian supplies. More than a half-dozen US military ships also are expected to help, with the largest, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, arriving later Thursday.

Calls to emergency services weren't getting through because systems that connect different phone networks were still not working, said officials from a telecommunications provider in Haiti. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is deploying 40 satellite terminals and 60 units with broadband facility to re-establish basic communication links, along with experts to operate them. The ITU will also set up "a reliable, responsive and complete cellular system designed to enable vital wireless communications aimed at strengthening response and recovery mechanisms in a disaster zone," said ITU Emergency Communications Division Chief Cosmas Zavazava. The ITU has allocated a budget of more than $1 million US dollars to strengthen the disaster response effort in Haiti.

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, HB9EHT, expressed his solidarity with the people of Haiti and offered his condolences to the bereaved victims of the disaster. "The whole world is in shock following the devastation and untold misery caused by the earthquake in Haiti," Dr Touré said. "ITU will do everything possible to provide assistance to the people of Haiti by re-establishing telecommunication links which will be vital in the rescue and rehabilitation efforts in the days ahead."

"The scope of the disaster clearly shows that the response to this is going to be a long term effort," said ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP. "The ARRL has been in contact with communications leaders of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as other key Amateur Radio operators throughout the region. As teams from the hundreds of responding agencies worldwide are formed for deployment, many will have Amateur Radio components. ARRL is committed to providing communications aid to our served agencies and working with the international community in this time of crisis. At this time there are no known requests from agencies for amateurs to travel to Haiti, but this can change. If it develops that there are ARES® assignments for a deployment in Haiti, these will be vetted and processed through each Section's Section Emergency Coordinators."

The situation in Haiti is still chaotic. More information will be posted as soon as possible. Information is being validated and shared between many amateur groups and news sources as it unfolds.

Sevier County Emergency Radio Service will stay active until such time that communications is reatored and we are not needed ... A special thanks to all members of SCERS / ARES for their help and monoriting the HF Bands for any traffic that may need passed to East TN......Call One will be used to deactivate...
.............................................................
1-22-10

Lessons for U.S. Preparedness From Haiti Relief Efforts: Analysis
By Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Published on: January 20, 2010

Haitians sit on the Place St. Pierre, where around one thousand people have been living since the January 12 earthquake, in Port-au-Prince's Petion-ville suburb. (Photograph by Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Haiti's earthquake has produced extreme devastation, both in the capital city and in the surrounding countryside. The current wave of reporting is examining problems in getting relief to where it's needed, and the tone of the coverage is often hostile: Why are things taking so long?

For starters, Haiti is a poor country. The Port-au-Prince airport has a single runway and not much room on the tarmac. There's room for a single wide-body jet, four narrow-body jets and a few smaller aircraft at any one time. Then the supplies have to be delivered on ground, moving over damaged, often blocked roads under dubious security conditions. When U.S. forces arrived, the entire airport had only one forklift. The seaport, meanwhile, was wrecked by the earthquake, and although repair crews and temporary port structures are on the way, setting them up takes time, too. Aid shipped overland from the Dominican Republic faces an 18-hour drive over miserable roads, made even worse by earthquake damage. In short, the situation in Haiti is a mess.

Surely things would be different if a major disaster struck in the United States. Right?

Not necessarily. Of course, every disaster is different—the problems caused by earthquakes differ from those caused by floods, hurricanes or volcanoes. But while the greater wealth and infrastructure in America is a nice thing, it doesn't mean that disaster relief will necessarily arrive quickly. American cities have better airports and more roads, but those can be damaged too. This was certainly the case with New Orleans and large stretches of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, where roads and railroads were flooded, blocked by fallen trees or rendered impassable by collapsed bridges. Military forces are equipped to cross rivers, repair bridges, and move massive quantities of supplies under difficult conditions, but it takes time to get military engineers together and on the way. Plus, the more people you send in to help, the more of the supplies you're delivering that have to go to support them, as opposed to the people they're supposed to be helping.

After Hurricane Katrina, flood waters, debris and downed bridges were the main logistical impediments. An earthquake could cause even worse infrastructure damage that would hamper relief. If, say, the New Madrid fault in Missouri were to let go with a series of magnitude 8.0 earthquakes, we could see much of the Midwest devastated, with enormous damage to railroads, highways and bridges. (The last such quake, actually a series of three earthquakes, caused damage as far away as Washington, D.C,. and Charleston, S.C., and caused the Mississippi River to actually flow backwards as the newly formed Reelfoot Lake filled. But there weren't many buildings and bridges in the midwest in 1811.) Responding to such damage would strain the resources of the nation, and many communities might go weeks before seeing significant relief. A major California earthquake, an Atlantic Coast tsunami or another major hurricane might also create this kind of widespread devastation.

Which brings us back to a theme Popular Mechanics has been driving home for years: self-reliance. If you're at the scene of a major disaster, it may be a long time before outside help arrives. But one person is sure to be there: you. And nobody cares more about helping you and your family in time of disaster than, well, you. So it makes sense for you to be prepared to take care of yourself—and look out for your neighbors—for some time afterward. That means having adequate stocks of food, water and basic tools on hand. (Experts say that Haitians should have had at least two weeks of food on hand, but of course many Haitians can't afford to keep such reserves. Americans, generally speaking, can.)

Here at Popular Mechanics, we've posted a number of special issues on disaster preparedness, with stories on the top first-aid kits you can buy, steps to save yourself when a natural disaster hits, stories about smart survival tactics that saved lives, hundreds of must-have survival gadgets and gear and a lot more. There's also lots of government help on such topics. (This L.A. Fire Department guide (pdf) on earthquake preparation is actually applicable to a lot of other potential disasters. And there's much more information available at Ready.gov.)

Survival gear is important to have ready at home. In particular, water filters and water storage devices are often neglected, but critically important, since clean water is often hard to come by after a disaster. Still, we're not asking that people think of disaster preparedness in terms of acquiring stuff. Having the right gear after a disaster is important, of course, but you should also think in terms of acquiring skills. Fortunately, many of the skills you'll need in the aftermath of a major disaster are the kinds of things that Popular Mechanics readers tend to have—familiarity with basic tools and construction, a can-do mind-set and a willingness to improvise. But you might want to take some advance first-aid or emergency medicine courses, and perhaps broaden your expertise a bit; for instance, if what you know is carpentry, it would help to acquire some basic electrical or plumbing knowledge. Disasters don't respect specialization.

Meanwhile, the folks who are in charge of our infrastructure might want to try a bit more preparation on their own. As I've argued before, critical systems should be engineered for resilience, so that minor failures don't cascade into major ones, and so that failure, when it comes, is graceful rather than abrupt. In addition, stockpiles of food and emergency supplies make sense at the state and federal level, as well as at the individual level. And it might be worth taking a look at the most important local transportation and communications links, and either reinforcing them, or making plans (including spare parts that might be hard to come by after a disaster) for fixing them in a hurry.

We like to think of disasters as unusual and unexpected, but on any sort of long timeline, they're inevitable. An ounce of preparation may not always be better than a pound of cure. But it's certainly more likely to be there when you need it.

1-23-2010

CDC Responds to the Haiti Earthquake
............................................................
Update: January 21, 2010

This information is current as of January 21, 2010, 8:30 PM ET

CDC is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), various branches of the U.S. military, and other federal and international agencies to help communities in Haiti recover from the powerful earthquake that struck the country on January 12, 2010. CDC's current response focuses on collaborating with national and international partners to meet urgent public health needs and establishing liaisons and coordination needed for successful, long range public health programs in response to the earthquake. One hundred eighty-five CDC staff are currently involved in the response.

As of January 21, CDC had deployed 16 staff members to respond to the emergency. CDC staff members in Haiti are serving on multiple international teams and projects to help mitigate and address public health issues. They are working with USAID, US Incident Response Coordination Teams, Haitian Ministry of Health, and PAHO to finalize surveillance instruments that will be used to identify public health problems and prioritize interventions. They will participate in rapid health assessment activities this weekend and conduct surveillance over the coming weeks that will be used to develop public health interventions. CDC staff are working with USAID and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to coordinate response activities and capacities. Coordination efforts are designed to leverage the abilities of partners working together in relief efforts in Haiti. CDC staff are working with the U.S. Defense Department's Southern Command to project potential health threats in Haiti for the coming weeks, identify courses of action to prevent these, and determine possible courses of action if the health threats occur.

Other examples of CDC's response activities include innovative approaches to surveillance. CDC's Geospacial Information System (GIS) staff have developed maps showing zones in Haiti where post-earthquake populations are congregating. These maps are being used to identify whether people are near stagnant pools of water, open fields, or other open areas increasing health risks related to natural threats including mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects.

CDC is also developing guidance and emergency information for affected communities in Haiti, relief workers responding to the earthquake, clinicians who are treating survivors, partners who are working in Haiti, and the public. CDC's guidance focuses on public health topics such as water and food safety, emergency wound care, environmental exposures, vector-borne illnesses, injuries, and recommended vaccinations.

CDC's efforts will continue to evolve as more is known about the situation and needs in Haiti.

The Bad News ....

The United Nations Children's Fund warns children in earthquake stricken Haiti are at risk of being trafficked by unscrupulous adults. UNICEF says it is setting up so-called welcome centers where children, particularly unaccompanied children, can go and be safe.

The UN Children's Fund says even before the catastrophic earthquake struck, children in Haiti were at great risk of being trafficked. It says there is documented evidence showing many children have been taken out of the country illegally.

UNICEF Senior Regional Adviser for Child Protection, Jean-Claude Legrand, says there are reports of similar practices happening now.

"We have documented let us say around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time being," he said. "We have anecdotal evidence of people crossing into San Domingo with children. And, there have been also observation at the airport of planes loading children."

Legrand says UNICEF and its partners have set up a surveillance system to register disappearances and, more importantly, to try to prevent them from occurring.

UNICEF says the protection of children is at the heart of its humanitarian operation in Haiti. It reports it has set up 20 centers where children who have lost or been separated from their family members can go and get care.

At these centers, aid workers identify and register unaccompanied children and try to reunify them with their families. UNICEF says the centers offer children a safe, friendly environment where they are given food and a space to play to relieve their stresses.

It says each of these centers receives about 2,000 children every day and soon two other centers, capable of hosting 4,000 children a day, will be opened.

Many people from abroad have expressed interest in adopting Haitian orphans. But, UNICEF generally opposes intra-continental adoptions, saying they only should be used as a last resort.

Jean-Claude Legrand says unaccompanied children in an emergency situation are not necessarily orphans. He says it is important this be verified before a child is given up for adoption.

"It is not because a child is hanging around in the streets that you suddenly declare that child as an orphan," said Legrand. "We do not consider that as a proper mechanism. It will take some time before we reach an understanding of the number of children who are going to be orphaned. Do not forget that Haitian society has a very strong setup and that there will be a lot of family members willing to care about children from their own families."

Furthermore, Legrand notes Haiti has a very big community living in the United States, Canada and other countries. He says many of these people will be willing to care for children who are related to them and have lost their parents.

On another matter, UNICEF says it will begin an urgent vaccination campaign against measles, polio and tetanus on Monday. It says it plans to immunize 360,000 children under five against these deadly diseases.
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1-25-2010

Sevier County Emergency Radio Service activation was terminated on 1-24-2010 in monitoring at all times the frequencies in HF Bands as emergency communications have been set back up in Haiti and stateside is not required any further, although several members are still monitoring the HF bands just in case there was someone who would need information or help in Haiti..
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