Floods in the Philippines hit Manilla

The Philippine Amateur Radio Association activated the Ham Emergency Radio Operations (HERO) on two metre and 40 metres passing essential traffic during the recent widespread flooding in Manila. The news media reports that 66 died in the torrential rain and officials estimated 300,000 fled their homes in the capital city of Manila submerging 80 per cent of it.

Eddie Valdez DU1EV, Chief Operating Officer of PARA said that HERO was on air from Monday night the 6th through to Thursday the 7th of August, including one of the ham emergency radio operators who found himself affected by the flood waters and fleeing his home after two days of operations. Eddie DU1EV said the sun finally, but only partially, showed up on the Thursday, with the floods receding in most parts. He said tonnes of garbage litters the roads, parks and drains in Manila and surrounding provinces. A big clean-up is under way. In the worst affected areas like Marikina City, the Metro Manila Development Authority said it would take about a month to clean and clear the drainage canals.

Nearly two weeks of monsoon rains across the Philippines main island of Luzon peaked with a 48-hour deluge that battered Manila and surrounding regions. This was the worst rains to hit Manila since Tropical Storm Ketsana killed 464 people in 2009.

Eddie DU1EV had, through the PARA website, warned of the pending rains asking everyone to be prepared by monitoring the emergency frequencies of 7.095 MHz and 144.740 MHz.

(Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee
and Eddie Valdez DU1EV, Chief Operating Officer of PARA)

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