SATERN ACTIVATED FOR MAJOR HURRICANE MELISSA

The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) is activating its’ international net today at 10:00 AM (Eastern) / 9:00 AM (Central)) in a cooperative effort with its partner, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN).  All SATERN operators are encouraged to monitor net frequencies and supply any needed relays not being heard by the HWN Net Control.  SATERN Operators are asked to monitor but to not actually check-in to the net unless they have been asked to do so or if they hear emergency traffic that the Net Control or relays cannot hear.

Details of the activation such as days, times, and frequencies can be found online at HWN.org by clicking the link titled, “Click Here For Our Net Activation Plans”.

The purpose if this activation is to (a) transmit information provided by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) with the specific purpose of informing those who current need information about Hurricane Melissa but may not be receiving it through normal communication channels, and (b) to accept outgoing Health and Welfare messages from the areas impacted by Melissa and deliver those messages to family members within the United States.

The Net will NOT accept nor attempt to deliver any messages going into the disaster impacted areas.  Neither SATERN nor HWN have the personnel nor resources to find people and deliver messages inside of a disaster area.  People who have Health & Welfare Inquiries about family inside the disaster areas are encouraged to contact one or more of the following resources:

1. Contact the International Red Cross through the local American Red Cross office.  The International Federation of Red Cros and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has activated local branches in Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

1. Contact the embassy or a consulate for the impacted country to see if they can determine the health and welfare of family members in that country.

1. Contact 211 (e.g. United Way) to see if they have been activated for this event.

1. Contact Samaritan’s Purse through its official website to see if they are capable of delivering a message to a family in the impacted country through their Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART)

As of 8:00 AM (Eastern) / 7:00 AM (Central) Hurricane Melissa was located just over 100 miles SW of Kingston, Jamaica with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph making it a major Category 5 hurricane.  Melissa’s very slow movement of only 2 mph will result in extremely heavy rainfall in Jamaica and Cuba today and tomorrow causing catastrophic flash flooding and landslides throughout the region.  By Wednesday, it will have moved on to the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands with less rainfall but still bringing serious flash flooding and landslides.  By Friday it is forecasted to approach or pass over Bermuda as a hurricane before moving out into the northern Atlantic Ocean.

It is very possible that the joint SATERN / HWN net operation may continue through at least part of Friday on an around-the-clock basis depending upon atmospheric radio propagation.  If so, this will be a very long activation and the operator resources for both SATERN and HWN will be stretched.  Any help that SATERN operators can provide to this operation, even if only in a monitoring capacity, will be needed and appreciated.  Spanish speaking operators are particularly needed.  Remember, the reason SATERN exists is to support mankind in Jesus’ Name through The Salvation Army during events such as this.