Amateur radio volunteer organizations have stepped in to assist with communication lost when telecommunications were taken out.
Recovery operations in the wake of landslides in Petrópolis, Brazil, continued this week, with more than 150 reported fatalities and many more reported missing. Very heavy rainfall, said to be the worst in nearly a century, precipitated the landslide. Some 700 residents reportedly had to evacuate the stricken area.

Members of the Network of Emergency Operations of Amateurs (ROER) in Petrópolis activated.

REER-RJ emergency coordinator for Mountain Region 1 Fábio Hoelz, PY1ZV, reported that Rio De Janeiro had linked its State Network of Emergency Radio Amateurs (REER-RJ) coordinated by Sales Morenno, PY1IBM, to the state Civil Defense organization. REER-RJ coordinates the response of radio amateurs, supporting local networks such as ROER, which is linked to the Municipal Civil Defense.

A station was installed to support firefighter operations, and an operator with a portable radio was sent to the Civil Action Command at the Civil Defense Headquarters and to a fire station in the Alto de Serra region. A station was activated at Civil Defense. Another was set up at the command post in the Alto da Serra region. VHF and UHF repeater systems owned and maintained by ROER were used for communication. ROER maintains City Hall's private VHF system, which serves the Municipal Guard, Petropolitan Transit, the Secretary of Civil Defense, and the Secretary of Health.

At times radio amateurs deployed with firefighters in the Alto da Serra region, LABRE reported. An electrical surge took out power to the Petropolis City Hall repeater, and physical access to the repeater site has been blocked. Efforts were under way with heavy equipment to access and restore the City Hall system.

Even with conventional communication services re-established for a large part of the municipality, radio traffic remained heavy due to the logistical needs of areas that the amateur radio network was supporting. "The system proved to be very efficient and faster in responding to requests than those made by standard means, which generated the heavy traffic flow," the LABRE report said.

Source: www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2022-02-24#toc10