Amateur radio organization still needed

Indonesia’s Vice President M Jusuf Kalla said the Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization (ORAR) was still needed, especially to reach areas not accessible by phones.

“Experience has shown that telephone transmission towers and cellular phone networks are usually among the first structures to collapse in disasters like earthquakes. In such situations, ORAR members often provide badly needed alternative means of communications,” he said when opening an ORARI national meeting in Jakarta last Friday.

According to the vice president, every telecommunication technology has its advantages and disadvantages. He said not all parts of Indonesia’s vast territory were accessible by telephones, including cellular phones, so that radios were still needed as a means of communication with people in remote areas, particularly when they were in an emergency situation.

Meanwhile, ORARI Chairman Mr. Sutiyoso said the organization now had 82,345 members. In the 39th year of its existence, ORARI was involved in many activities mainly in providing communication support during disaster-caused emergencies in the country, he said

Source: Radio Bulgaria's DX programme