HAM radios to aid in cyclone relief in the Sunderbans
The Hindu
Communication turns out to be a major challenge during particularly in remote areas
In the last week of May hours before cyclone Yaas made landfall in northern coastal Odisha and battered coastal West Bengal, Ambarish Nag Biswas, secretary of the West Bengal Radio Club (Amateurs Club), got a call from a senior bureaucrat about deployment of some HAM radio operatives in Purba Medinipur district, where the maximum damage was expected. Mr. Biswas said it was difficult for the operators who had already positioned themselves in different areas to move to Purba Medinipur. Communication turns out to be a major challenge during the cyclones and particularly in the Sunderbans with more than 50 inhabited islands located in remote areas — some of them at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal. They remain cut off often for days. The State had in the past three years faced four tropical cyclones, Fani (May 2019) , Bulbul (November 2019), Amphan ( May 2020) and Yaas ( May 2021) and on all occasions the administration had to wait for connection to be restored to assess damage and send relief. A few months after Yaas, Mr. Nag Biswas got a call from the district administration of the South 24 Parganas to train local youths from the Sunderbans in operating Ham Radio sets. This was to augment the community-based disaster preparedness of the region.More Related News