Despite the fact that Nepal has only about two dozen licensed amateurs and only one active repeater, amateur radio quickly became a critical link in re-establishing communications after the April 25th earthquake that caused massive damage in the Himalayan country and killed thousands of people.
 |
| Volunteer
hams from India assisted in the Nepal earthquake aftermath, including VU2JOS (right, with HT) and 9N3AA (left, with cap) in the Gorkha District. [Photo courtesy India's National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR)] |
Hams from India and other
countries came to help (see photo), after overcoming bureaucratic hurdles; the ARRL
Letter reports a repeater donated by an American group - the Computer
Association of Nepal-USA (CANAM) - was cleared through customs after the
personal intervention of the country's Minister of Information and
Communication, and nets on HF and VHF provided links both within Nepal and to
the outside world. We will have complete coverage in July CQ's "CQ World
Wide" column.
[Editor's note: At the time of this posting, Nepal had been hit with a magnitude 7.3 aftershock, which
resulted in additional deaths, injuries and property damage. There was no word yet as to whether ham radio activity, which had been winding
down, was ramped back up.]
