Volunteers from Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Tauranga answered the call in April when the severe storm known as Cyclone Vaianu approached the coast. Tairāwhiti Emergency Management in Gisborne was asking that the hams keep communication lines open throughout that tense weekend. AREC members were able to staff the emergency centre radios which are connected to remote community civil defence teams.
The volunteers were reminded that this is the very purpose for which AREC was established in 1932 and the reason it has since evolved into something that Civil Defence, Search and Rescue and police can rely on. Last month, three of the Tauranga volunteers went to Gisborne and worked in shifts around the clock to ensure welfare checks were made and community contact was maintained, especially in the most remote areas. One community ended up having a power failure - and their backup power did not function either - and so the AREC volunteers got that addressed.
AREC also created a nationwide safety net on the HF bands.
The team is now hoping to grow even stronger by adding trained volunteers and put out a call through local media to ask that interested people contact them.
Group leader Joanne Watson ZL1JDR told the SunLive website: [quote] "You never know when your skills might be the link that keeps someone connected." [endquote]
