Rainbow Radio League says thanks

EDITOR: Ten years of service in the field of Emergency Communications (Emcoms) has come to an end and already plans are underway for the Rainbow Radio League (RRL) to stage its first two-island simulation carded for mid-January 2006, getting off to an early start in our 11th year of service to the Vincentian community. But that is not the focus of this missive.

As we come to the end of each year of operation, the RRL registers its appreciation to ALL who have supported our operations, and since our service is for public benefit, then we ought to publicly thank those agencies and companies who understand the role we play.{{more}}

Some companies need to be singled out for their support: Cable & Wireless has supported the RRL on at least three occasions and all of the equipment donated as long as eight years ago is still functional and has been used extensively for our on-going training programs. One of these training programs is the annual simulation with the School of Nursing focusing on mass casualty management and Emcoms. We have provided this service voluntarily as we understand the importance of such training, that being our contribution to the important area of Disaster Management (DM).

The RRL has recently embarked on a project to develop an island-wide wireless radio network, placing HF/SSB transceivers in all vulnerable communities so that if phones and other means of communications are inoperable following a disaster, this equipment, powered by a 12-volt car battery and a simple wire antenna, can relay important information from these communities and so help save lives, and report on damage to infrastructure.

We have made progress in this respect and the RRL has already received 4 radios, which have already been placed at Belmont (M’qua) and Barrouallie (to be relocated to Rose Hall after a period of testing), one for the RRL Search & Rescue (SAR) vehicle and the other placed at our Headquarters. Another radio and ancillary equipment provided by Vinlec has been ordered and will be placed in Mayreau early in the New Year. Negotiations are now underway to provide similar equipment for Fancy. Other vulnerable communities in SVG will also receive radios, but the emphasis is on first helping those communities which can be cut off easily. We need at least another eight radios to ensure that other vulnerable communities throughout the state are served with this basic but important communications infrastructure.

The companies who donated radios are: First Caribbean Bank, Digicel, Scotiabank , C&W and Vinlec. THANK YOU !!! We look forward to your continuing support. We must also thank Karibcable for providing the RRL with internet service which is used primarily for downloading the latest seismic and meteorological data which we use as ‘early warning’ information to other radio operators and the public.

In closing we must thank NEMO for holding on to us as their friends, they have benefited from our service and experience, while we too have gained from the training course in Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis … a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship.

To all radio amateurs in SVG who assisted with Emcoms in the aftermath of Emily and all members of the RRL who have given of their best this year I say thanks, a bigger THANK you to our benefactors and finally the BIGGEST thanks must go to the Almighty for sparing us from both natural and human disasters. May the Good Lord continue to bless all cheerful givers and their families and this Nation as a whole.

Have a Blessed New Year.

Donald De Riggs, Director/Secretary, RRL