On Sunday 26 December 2004 07:12 pm, Datamation India wrote: > Dear Partha and all Bytes for All Readers, > > The year is ending on a very-very tragic note with the loss of > so many lives.
The latest estimate I have seen today is 26,000 confirmed deaths in all affected countries. Although there are no reliable estimates yet for injury, homelessness, or property damage, we know that all are huge. The UN calls the damage "unprecedented" and estimates that millions have been displaced. Whole villages on the coasts of Sri Lanka and India have been swept away, and doubtless elsewhere. The tidal waves were felt in Africa and South America. The immediate needs include food, clean water, emergency shelters, and disease prevention measures. Lack of communication with the affected areas made timely evacuation impossible, and now hinders efforts to find out what happened and what aid is needed where. Governments also lacked systems to send out notifications. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/asia.warning.ap/index.html Events of this magnitude (9.0 or greater in the ocean) have occurred five times in the last 60 years, including Japanese, Peruvian, and Alaskan waters. The most recent quake was not as large as some of these, but far more people lived in areas exposed to the Indian Ocean tsunamis. > Your suggestion is worthy of implementation and I am copying > our correspondence > to Ritu Kappal of heads IS Function at the Care India and has > worked with HAM > radios as well as with other disaster relief mechanisms that > have been very effective. The keywords tsunami "amateur radio" returned more than 4000 hits from Google. Some of them concern operational HAM networks in Asia spreading the latest tsunami warning before they hit, and helping out in various ways afterwards. HAM radio provided the essential communication during the first days after the massive earthquake in Kobe, Japan, in 1995 that cut the communications lines into the city. HAM operators who were also on the Internet set up Web sites for getting messages into and out of Kobe. They organized to serve individuals trying to make contact with friends and family, people needing medical care, and also news services and the government, which was astonishingly unprepared. Googling kobe earthquake "amateur radio" just now returned hundreds of hits. What we need next are wireless computer networks, which are much higher in bandwidth than HAM connections, and directly usable by almost anybody. With suitable power supplies (including solar or diesel) they can frequently continue uninterrupted operation during quite large quakes. Short of equipment getting smashed in a collapsing building, the worst that happens is rarely more than a misaligned antenna, which can be put right in short order. Wireless networks can be set up at modest cost by hobbyists, as is happening in the San Francisco Bay Area and other places. The greatest difficulty lies in getting permission from the owners of hill and mountain tops to use their land. See http://www.barwn.org/ for an example, with detailed technical instructions. Several cities have decided to fund comprehensive urban wireless networks. Wireless networks with laptops are part of the Red Cross emergency toolkit, but only for their own workers. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to get a computer in every village for development purposes also includes emergency services. The Simputer (my company's product) is a natural choice for such a system in India, since it can be set up and run economically (indeed, at a profit for the owner) in villages without electricity and telephones, and has Indian language support. Other languages can be added without great difficulty. For example, there is a wireless network using Simputers in Bhutan. The key enabler for village computing is microcredit, so that we can serve all of the villages everywhere without dependence on government or foundation funding. Two of the organizations associated with the Grameen Bank are testing handheld computers in villages now. http://tech.gfusa.org/village_comptng.shtml Grameen Foundation USA http://www.grameen-info.org/vcip/ Grameen Communications Once they are satisfied with the capabilities of the computers, including getting any special software they need in the appropriate languages, and are also satisfied that they can train prospective users appropriately, they can start the placement process. They will be able to follow the methods they now use to place cell phones in villages, but with greater economic impact due to the wider range of services possible. > I am also writing to the Red Cross offices--Mr. Bijoy Patra, > Mr. Manish Gangal-- with a request > to guide us if there is a anyway they can assist us even > though I am certain by now > Red Cross true to their spirit would have risen to the > occasion and would have commenced relief > and rescue operations. As indeed they have. Some of my friends in the wireless and computer communities, hobby and professional, would be delighted at the opportunity to help out with such projects right away. I am copying this publicly to other lists, and privately to a few individuals, to see who would like to get together on this. > I also offer services of Datamation's > offices located in Vizag, Hyderabad, > Chennai, Thiruvanthapuram, Kochi for any relief work that may > be needed in this > hour of national tragedy. The contact details and Coordinators > names can be provided to any one > who may be interested to help and support. Please put me on your list. > Kind Regards, > > Chetan Sharma-Datamation Foundation Trust (M) 9811039482 Here is the link to CNN's list of organizations collecting funds for aid to survivors. You may want to contact some of them, also. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "parthadhaka" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, December 26, 2004 10:19 PM > Subject: [bytesforall_readers] Disaster Alert : Sea surges > kill thousands inAsia > > > Dear All, > > > > It seems like a big natural disaster to South-East and South > > Asian countries and the reports on death tolls are still > > coming. Is there anything that we can do with regard to this > > disaster? I understand the rescue mission is going on and I > > assume many grassroots organizations, network are probably > > involved in searching of missing people. Is there any HAM > > radio based network working there and we can open up an > > emergency email account (say for example, > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]) to relay mission person's > > information to that group? I remember, few years back, at > > the time of Gujarat earthquake, Pallavi Raina and her troops > > opened up a HAM radio based network who took part in rescue > > mission and did a splendid job by relaying information > > through HAM radio and email network. Bytes for All had been > > happy to associate with that in its own small way. Any > > suggestion now? > > > > Partha/B4All > > > > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4125481.stm > > Sea surges kill thousands in Asia > > > > A wall of water several metres high wrought havoc in > > Thailand. > > > > More than 7,000 people have been killed across southern Asia > > in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest earthquake > > in the world for 40 years. > > > > The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in > > north Indonesia, generating a wall of water that sped across > > thousands of kilometres of sea. > > > > More than 3,200 died in Sri Lanka, 1,870 in Indonesia and > > 2,000 in India. > > > > Casualty figures are rising over a wide area, including > > tourist resorts on Thailand packed with holidaymakers. > > > > > > DISASTER TOLL > > Sri Lanka: 3,225 dead > > Indonesia: 1,873 dead > > India: 2,000 dead > > Thailand: 257 dead > > Malaysia: 28 dead > > Maldives: 10 dead > > Bangladesh: 2 dead > > Source: Government officials > > > > Eyewitness: Tsunami escape > > In pictures: Quake disaster > > > > Exact numbers of people killed, injured or missing in the > > countries hit, are impossible to confirm. > > > > Hundreds are still thought to be missing from coastal > > regions and, in Sri Lanka alone, officials say more than a > > million people have been forced from their homes. > > > > Click here for map of affected area > > Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a > > national disaster and the military has been deployed to help > > rescue efforts. > > > > Hundreds of fishermen are missing off India's southern > > coast, and there are reports of scores of bodies now being > > washed up on beaches. > > > > Night has fallen in Indonesia and communications remain > > difficult, particularly to the strife-torn region of Aceh > > where the main quake was followed by nine aftershocks. > > Reports speak of bodies being recovered from trees. > > > > A national disaster has also been announced in the low-lying > > Maldives islands, more than 2,500km (1,500 miles) from the > > quake's epicentre, after they were hit by severe flooding. > > > > Waves forced out from the earthquake are even reported to > > have reached Somalia, on the east coast of Africa. > > > > Resort 'wiped out' > > > > Harrowing reports of people caught in the devastation and > > dramatic tales of escape from the waves are emerging from > > around the region. > > > > The beach in India's Madras was packed when the waves hit > > A resident of Kakinada in India's southern Andhra Pradesh > > province, P Ramanamurthy, said he saw fishermen clinging to > > upturned boats being swept out to sea. > > > > "I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on > > the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the > > sea, as if made of paper," he told the Associated Press news > > agency. > > > > In Thailand, hundreds of holiday bungalows are reported to > > have been destroyed on the popular Phi Phi island. > > > > Resort owner Chan Marongtaechar said he feared hundreds of > > people might have been lost. > > > > "I am afraid that there will be a high figure of foreigners > > missing in the sea, and also my staff," he told AP after > > telephoning employees from Bangkok. > > > > > > I was in the island of Vypeen near Kochi [in India] in the > > morning when at around 11am huge waves maybe up to 8 feet > > struck the coastline - panic was widespread > > > > Krishnakumar, > > Kochi, Kerala > > > > > > Tell us your experiences > > > > Indonesia's location - along the Pacific geological "Ring of > > Fire" - makes it prone to volcanic eruptions and > > earthquakes. > > > > Sunday's tremor - the fifth strongest since 1900 - had a > > particularly widespread effect because it seems to have > > taken place just below the surface of the ocean, analysts > > say. > > > > Bruce Presgrave of the US Geological service told the > > Reuters news agency: "These big earthquakes, when they occur > > in shallow water... basically slosh the ocean floor... and > > it's as if you're rocking water in the bathtub and that wave > > can travel throughout the ocean." > > > > Experts say tsunamis generated by earthquakes can travel at > > up to 500km/h. > > > > > > IMPACT OF THE EARTHQUAKE > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. > Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for > free! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/C7EolB/TM > -------------------------------------------------------------- >------~-> > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/ > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist Encore Technologies (S) Pte. Ltd. The Village Information Society http://www.ryze.com/go/Cherlin _______________________________________________ BAWUG's general wireless chat mailing list [unsubscribe] http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
