India blackouts affects millions

In the world's worst blackout in recent times power was cut to 700 million people in India. Jayu Bhide VU2JAU reports that the North-East grid failed due to a fault in the plant and 20 states were affected by the power failure. Work to restore the power was in progress.

National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, Jayu VU2JAU said that New Delhi had its power cut for 12 hours yesterday. He said in the evening power was restored to some parts of Delhi and the surrounding areas. The work to restore was still in progress.

"Hams in and around the affected areas were ready for the emergency communication required during power cuts," said Jayu VU2JAU. They provided emergency communications during the outage, all voice repeaters were in order and did not fail despite the heavy duty back-up power needed. He said, "Hams will still be on their toes until complete power is restored."

Further reports on the crisis are expected later. Luckily, said Jayu VU2JAU, "Everything went well and no major casualty was reported". Up to 20 of India's 28 states were plunged into darkness as suppliers failed to meet the growing demand caused by air-conditioning units, flat-screen TVs and other gadgets. Hundreds of trains failed, traffic lights were out, surgical operations cancelled, and underground miners were trapped when their lifts broke down. The blackout raised concern about India's infrastructure.

(Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee and Jayu Bhide VU2JAU, National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India)

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