Perhaps the anniversary of 9/11 is not the most pleasant event to use in order to remind people about the need to “Be Ready” to cope with disasters; both man-made and natural. Maybe the anniversary of Katrina (2005) is less tragic (death-wise); but it will help us realize that our ability to “communicate” when all power systems have been damaged and can no longer function as needed. This type of situation is what makes the ARRL (American Radio and Relay League) motto so significant and meaningful: “When all else fails, amateur radio works.”

Seven years have passed since Hurricane Katrina, and many new disaster readiness projects and programs have been created to improve the ability for communities to communicate; however, citizens – especially at the neighborhood level need to ask whether or not they are better off, communication-wise, seven years later or not. Many readers of this blog site will recall that a local TV production team created a program – “Can Sonoma County Communicate? – that was released on October 19, 2005. Perhaps this program should be broadcast, again, before determining whether or not we have moved forward.

The “Neighborhood HamWatch” model described in the other blog, posted earlier today, might help the cause.

Note: New readers might find the following blogs useful in framing their own answer to these questions.

EP #12 – CERT+NERT+ALERT+STAR – (3-5-2007)
EP #23 – Hey neighbor … it’s up to us! – (9-21-2007)
EP #42 – How will we communicate in an emergency? – (4-13-2009)
EP #50 – It’s that time of year again … April 18th. – (4-18/2010)
EP #73 – More Earthquakes … Are WE Next – (8/23/2011)