SB QST @ ARL $ARLB026
ARLB026 Indiana Ham Radio Volunteers Assisting in Wake of Killer 
Tornado

ZCZC AG26
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 26  ARLB026
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  November 8, 2005
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB026
ARLB026 Indiana Ham Radio Volunteers Assisting in Wake of Killer 
Tornado

Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator David Pifer, N9YNF, reports
Amateur Radio volunteers are assisting relief operations in the wake
of a November 6 tornado that left 22 people dead and 200 injured.
The twister slashed a more than 40-mile swath through part of
Kentucky and extreme southwestern Indiana in the early morning
hours, wiping out a section of a trailer park in Vanderburgh County
where 18 of the fatalities occurred.

"Amateur radio has been involved with various aspects of the
response from the beginning," Pifer said. The Salvation Army and the
American Red Cross are on the scene in the affected areas with
canteen and mass-care facilities to feed and care for relief workers
and tornado victims.

Volunteer and police officer Bob Pointer, N9XAW, at The Salvation
Army headquarters in Evansville told ARRL that three Salvation Army
mobile kitchens and three field units have been deployed in
Vandenburgh and Warrick counties, and Amateur Radio is supporting
their relief activities. Amateur Radio support, likely will be
needed for up to one week, Pointer said.

Pifer was asking prospective Amateur Radio volunteers from the area
who are willing and able to assist in the relief operation to
contact Pointer at 812-431-5054.

Pointer said Amateur Radio volunteers also provided some early
support for the American Red Cross, but that agency now has its own
internal telecommunications up and running.

The November 6 tornado, an F3 on the Fujita scale with winds of up
to 200 MPH, originated within a line of thunderstorms that struck
the region. Indiana Gov Mitch Daniels has declared a state of
emergency.

Kentucky SEC Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, says SKYWARN was active as the
storms approached. "I had our Amateur Radio net going with National
Weather Service Louisville and monitored those in the counties west
of me as it approached," Dodson told ARRL. The storm hit the Hart
County community of Munfordville, he said.
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