Emergency Communications

• Introduction
  By Hans Zimmermann, F/HB9AQS, IARU International Coordinator for Emergency Communications

• Update January 2010

• Presentation

• Terms of Reference

• Handout

• Global Simulated Emergency Tests (GlobalSET)
  GlobalSET is an exercise taking place twice annually, usually in April/May and November. Participants are headquarters stations of national IARU Member Societies and of Stations of specialized emergency communications groups world-wide. GlobalSET is not a contest, but an exercise; messages are being exchanged between stations and forwarded to a regional headquarters station in each of the three IARU Regions. In addition to the training of operators in message handling, GlobalSET also aims at increasing the awareness for the global and regional Center of Activity (CoA) Frequencies. GlobalSETs are sponsored and organized by IARU Region 1 and regularly announced on the IARU web site with a link to the rules and details for each event. 

• The China earthquake presentation (MS PowerPoint 9.3MB)

• Resources
  1. Emergency Center of Activity Frequencies
  2. Third Party Traffic Handling in Emergency Situations
  3. Radiocommunications in Emergency and Disaster Situations
  4. The ITU has made significant portions of the 2005 edition of the Handbook on Emergency Telecommunications available for free download in English, French, and Spanish. Go to http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/publications.html for more information.
  5. Emergency Telecommunications in the ITU
  6. Basic Emergency Telecommunications course of the ITU
  7. Memorandum of Understanding between ITU and IARU
  8. Memorandum of Understanding between IFRC and IARU

• What is GAREC ?
  In 2005, the first Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (GAREC) Conference  was organized on the initiative of Seppo Sisatto, OH1VR in Tampere, Finland. Following the success of this event and the increased interest in international and regional cooperation on emergency communications, GAREC Conferences established themselves as annual events

  For each conference, an organizing committee works together with a local host, and IARU representatives participate in the event. In its 2009 meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, the IARU Administrative Council has now defined the relationship between GAREC and IARU, by adopting the following recommendations contained in the Statement of the GAREC-2009 Conference:

  “GAREC 2009 recommends, that GAREC conferences should continue to be held in locations throughout the world to the extent possible and should maintain the character of GAREC as an informal meeting among representatives of IARU member societies and of Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Groups within or outside of the respective National IARU Member Society, serving as a forum for the exchange of experience and as an advisory body for the work on emergency communications of the IARU.”

• GAREC-2010
  GAREC will return to Region 2.  This time the Venue will be CURACAO.
  The dates will be October 11-12, 2010.
  The Theme of the Conference will be: "Learning through practicing".
  The event will be organized in cooperation with DARES and VERONA.
  
  More details will be announced as they become available. Please visit the GAREC web site at http://www.rientola.fi/oh3ag/garec/ where you also find the presentations, statements and pictures from the previous events.
  
  The GAREC-process
  
  THE MISSION: To get Amateur Radio operators to be better prepared for emergency communications and create practices for national and international levels. GAREC is for exchanging information and experiences between all Amateur Radio operators and groups that are interested in EmComms.
  
  THE VISION: To have regular world wide co-operation and understanding between Authorities and Amateur Radio Service on the field of EmComms.
  
  Chairman of the Organizing Committee:
  
  Seppo Sisättö, Ph.D
  OH1VR
  Ojakatu 3 A 18
  33100 Tampere
  FINLAND
  Tel. +358-50-360 2600
  E-mail: seppo.sisatto ( at ) uta.fi

• GAREC-2009

  The Fifth Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (GAREC) Conference took place on 24 - 25 August 2009, in connection with the JARL Ham Fair at Tokyo Big Sight, Ariake, Tokyo Japan. The Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) hosted this year's GAREC.
  
  The Theme of the GAREC-2009 was "Emergency Communications across Borders". The program included presentations about operations during disasters that occurred since last year's conference and discussions about new developments in technology and their application in emergency communications.
  
  The presentations, the Statement of the Conference, and other documents are available at www.rientola.fi/oh3ag/garec.

• GAREC-2008
  GAREC-08 took place Thursday, 26 and Friday, 27 June 2008 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in combination with HamRadio 2008 (27-29 June) in the conference center of the Friedrichshafen Messe, Room "Oesterreich".

• GAREC-2007
  The Statement of GAREC-07
  GAREC-07 took place in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, on 16 and 17 August 2007, the days just before the annual Huntsville Hamfest and the 2007 ARRL National Convention. Some of the presentations made during the conference are available at gaiss.tssg.org/GAREC07 and more information can also be found at arrl-al.org/GAREC07.htm.
  A report about GAREC-07 is available at arrl.org/news/stories/2007/08/24/102/

• GAREC-2005 and GAREC-2006
  The first and the second Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conferences took place in Tampere, Finland, in 2005 and in 2006. Presentations, documents and pictures from both conferences are available here.

• The Tampere Convention
  1. What this international treaty means for Emergency Communications Provided by the Amateur Radio Service
  2. Guidelines for Accession to the Convention
  3. The text of the Convention
  4. The list of countries having signed and ratified or acceded the Convention