Radio hams help out following Indonesian earthquake

Radio amateurs are providing emergency communications in and around the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta following a devastating earthquake.

More than 5,000 were killed when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Yogyakarta, on the island of Java, on 27 May. A further 20,000 were injured and 200,000 have been made homeless.

The Organisation of Amateur Radio for Indonesia is coordinating an emergency communications network made up of so-called “Zulu” stations and individual volunteer radio amateurs. As is the practice in Indonesia, several Zulu-prefixed emergency communications stations have been set up to handle disaster related traffic on HF and VHF.

Other radio amateurs from across Indonesia are also making their way to the disaster area to bolster the emergency communications network. Among them is thought to be medical doctor Soejat Harto, YB6HB, whose team of radio amateurs played a vital role in the relief effort in Indonesia following the cataclysmic tsunami of 2004.

Source: GB2RS News - Courtesy of the RSGB