INDIA: Indian ham radio buff unites families

One woman helps tsunami victims find missing relatives through a ham radio system in the Andaman islands

The Straits Times
Saturday, January 1, 2005

A New Delhi housewife in the Andaman islands has organised a multinational effort by ham operators to unite thousands of families separated by the killer waves.

The Andamans account for about a third of India's reported death toll of 11,330 but thousands more are missing or have been separated from families in the archipelago's 572 islands because of massive damage to harbours, bridges and local ferry services.

The Indian army is supporting Mrs Bharti Prasad, 46, with gear and batteries as she networks ham operators across nations to reunite families and help in relief and rescue operations.

Ham radio buffs had not been permitted to operate in the Andamans since 1987 but the ban was lifted in November. Mrs Prasad was among the first to arrive to help establish a radio footprint in the string of islands near Thailand.

'We arrived here on Dec 15 to support Andamans as a radio country ... Amateur stations across the world wanted a footprint in these beautiful islands.

'I did not expect a disaster like this. It is no longer a game and now we must help,' she said as her headset crackled with tsunami-re- lated traffic in Port Blair.

'When the tidal waves struck, we just turned the beacon towards India and since then we have been flooded with messages which we relay on local telephone lines.'

She has already handled around 30,000 emergency calls since disaster struck the tropical paradise. 'The only thing I am now afraid of is our telephone bill,' she said.

Mothers were separated from their children and husbands from their wives in the desperate scramble to escape the killer waves.

Further chaos ensued when rescuers randomly plucked survivors from islands and sent them to special shelters.

'I thought I had lost my family but soon an official told me that he had received messages from a 'radio station' that all my relatives were safe in Port Blair,' said survivor Roby Dey in Car Nicobar island.

The 'radio station' was none other than Mrs Prasad, said a military rescuer in Car Nicobar.

Amateur stations in Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai are now linked with Mrs Prasad and the network is growing beyond Indian territory, said co-volunteer Suresh Babu.

Mrs Prasad's radio crackles with a voice from Indonesia: 'Bharti, you take care. You are the Angel of the Seas. Without you out there, rescue will halt.'

Date Posted: 1/1/2005