3 ms·
In Puerto Rico after hurricane Irma and Maria (specially Maria) we didn’t have much in terms of information. All you need is 1 radio in a community and people
by rovr138 6y ago
In Puerto Rico after hurricane Irma and Maria (specially Maria) we didn’t have much in terms of information.
All you need is 1 radio in a community and people can huddle up to listen or just a few listen and take information to others.
Cellphone towers run on generators after disasters with no power and they run out of fuel. People would find and take batteries out of anything they had and give them to whoever had a radio to stay informed. Some people had small solar ones or ones with an internal battery and a crank.
Cellphones became useless quick. No signal and they keep searching for a signal wasting battery quickly and a lot of people had no way to charge them. If the towers came back up and you had battery, they where overloaded quickly and useless.
- jabl 6y agoSimple radios that don't need much infrastructure, such as amateur radio, could be awesome for disaster comms. Unfortunately it seems the hobby is dying, and the bands are under constant attack by the big telecoms who wish to lay their grubby hands on them.
- rovr138 6y agoActually, HAM operators where taken to the island afterward the hurricanes to help the local authorities coordinate. Here’s an article, https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/us/puerto-rico-maria-ham-radio-operators-trnd/index.htmL https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/us/puerto-rico-maria-ham-radi...