M.E.T.E.R.S. Newsletter - September 2005

A monthly publication of the Middle East Tennessee Emergency Radio Service, Inc.

(METERS is a registered non-profit service organization based in Knoxville, serving all the surrounding area.) 

Meetings are held at 7 PM, the 4th Tuesday every month, at the Red Cross Building, 6921 Middlebrook Pike, near the Weisgarber Rd. Post Office in Knoxville, TN. Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to join METERS and assist in meeting the needs of our served agencies.  Club call sign is KG4NLF. Website: www.metersinc.org 

Members’ submissions are invited for this newsletter, in .rtf, .doc, .wps and plain text formats, subject to space available and editing. Editor: Larry Osterman, W8JYQ, e-mail to w8jyq (at sign) arrl dot net.         

 

 

Presidents Statement for September 2005

By Gary Buczkowski, AG4XO

 

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Those words, spoken by President Kennedy more than 40 years ago, still resonate today.

 

(Our President is deployed with Tyra and Buddy Sumner, so we are reminded of his August lead line from the JFK speech of the early 60’s. We applaud and appreciate the outstanding work and contribution this team is exhibiting on our behalf. We have much on our plate to pursue in these next few weeks and months and encourage all to participate to the fullest extent possible.

 

You are cordially invited to the next METERS meeting, Tuesday, September 27, 2005, although location of the meeting may be at the Knox County Health Dept Bldg on Dameron St. just off Broadway. With Red Cross heavily involved with Katrina evacuees, that building may not be available. Please watch for e-mail from our Net Manager for more info. Your nominating committee will present a slate of candidates for office for your vote, and the Bylaws Committee will have the final reading and vote on the few changes discussed at last months meeting. -ed)  

 

Thanks and 7 3,

Gary/AG4XO

 

 

 

Katrina Notes and Observations

By Alan Sims, KG4MMG, Vice President

 

I hope we have learned something from the media with their coverage of KATRINA . Let’s get serious folks. We just DONT put up supplies as we should. Times have changed . We don’t farm or put food in jars today. It is too easy to get to the store.

 

With that said where were the stores in New Orleans? People were saying:

Where is MY power? Where is MY water? Where is MY food?

 

WELL, if you don’t plan, don’t talk with your kids, don’t make an EMERGENCY KIT.

You will be part of the PROBLEM!!.

Some have said, “You cant tell me to help myself, so there” .

If you think someone will take care of YOU, good luck!. Remember those FOLKS on the roof?

That might be YOU. Hey, it is your right, and it is your life, which ever you CHOOSE! 

Myself, I want the option to be SAFE! And also to know my family is safe. I am sure we in METERS have all learned from this sad event. Please folks, keep your house safe and supplied.

Outside HELP may be a long time in getting to you. And next, please let your families, friends, and neighbors know the importance of preparation. It really can happen, anywhere. -- 73. Alan

 

 

 

Lessons of Katrina

By Larry Osterman, W8JYQ, Editor

 

Watching the PBS presentation of Sept. 1, 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s attack on the Gulf coast, we all hope our local and regional EMA’s have learned at least these things from this disaster:

(By the time we publish this Newsletter, we may be seeing another area under similar stress.)

 

a) Authorities (including Emergency Management Administrators, and all city leaders) need to get to a command center and be enabled to communicate hourly with the people most affected by the problem in such a way that the chain of command is effectively used and respected.;

b) EMA’s need very early planning for evacuation of the poor, elderly, and disabled;

c) EMA’s need to be thinking, before the event, of destination shelters and how to get people to them (buses, trains, private carriers);

d) EMA’s need to make early commitment of auxiliary and supplemental police, traffic controllers, and first aid providers, and recognize the usefulness of these groups by all front line officials;

e) EMA’s need a supplemental information dissemination plan, such as air drops of leaflets, radio stations that stay on the air (hams), etc.;

f) Our emergency shelters need cots and mattresses in large numbers, along with reduced noise and lighting in the shelters that will allow people to rest  and relax, plus shelter police and aid auxiliaries;

g) EMA’s need on-site communicators, such as “ham” radio operators, who can get help to where its needed, and provide information from command centers to the local on-site authorities, and the populace, in the event of a failure of other communications systems (police and fire radio systems, cell phones, etc.);

h) EMA’s need to have helicopters with National Guard and/or police squads ready to drop into a challenge area to restore order and arrange for essentials such as water and fast meals;

i) EMA’s need helicopters carrying loud speakers to tell folks on the ground what is coming, and to clear a landing area to assure safe delivery of supplies and crowd control personnel;

j) EMA’s need designated first aid and water distribution stations identified well before the event;

k) EMA’s need pre-planned tent cities at a distance, with water, food, medical teams, portable commodes, and manning teams who can make assignments of arriving able-bodied refugees to camp maintenance duties (perhaps this could be pre-arranged with EMA‘s at a reasonable safe distance) ;

l) EMA’s need clearly defined chains of command, in a para-military format, to assure getting support from distant authorities and EMA’s as required;

m) Authorities at the EOC need to be monitoring all media and info sources, to stay alert to on-the-ground changes, and to assure that status information is flowing both from and to the media and the public; 

n) Police, Fire, and EMT professionals must be assured that the command structure stays intact, and that they will be supported during and after any emergency. This command structure must be aware of and learn to utilize all the support groups that may be available to them;

o) Authorities need uncommon patience and understanding in dealing with the public, the media, organizations that are trying to help, and follow-up tracking systems that allow best use of that help;

p) Taxpaying citizens (that means all of us) need to track the readiness of our EMA’s and call for organizational revisions by elected officials where there is a lack of performance from the EMA command structure.

(CERT trainees are reassured that our Knox EMA seems to be on track with the “right stuff” to get the job done locally. But, if you have constructive suggestions, please don’t hesitate to pass them along to Colin Ickes at KEMA, or to your member(s) of the City Council or County Commission.)  -  W8JYQ 

 

 

 

Al-Qaeda Plan: Islamic World in 15 Years

From the wires, via Gary Buczkowski, AG4XO

 

Al-Qaeda has a master plan to take over the world and turn it into an Islamic state - in seven phases by the year 2020.

Wishful thinking? Not in the minds of the top terrorist lieutenants interviewed by Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein for a new book - including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, mastermind of many atrocities in Iraq.

The plan, which is revealed for the first time in the Australian publication The Age, has seven phases:

Phase 1: The "awakening" in the consciousness of Muslims around the world following the 9/11 attacks, which were aimed at provoking the U.S. into declaring war on the Islamic world and mobilizing Islamic radicals.

Phase 2: "Opening eyes," the current period, which should last until 2006. Hussein said the terrorists hope to make the "Western conspiracy" aware of the "Islamic community" as al-Qaeda continues to form its secret battalions.

Phase 3: "Arising and standing up," which should last until 2010 and bring increasingly frequent attacks against secular Turkey and archenemy Israel.

Phase 4: Lasting until 2013, this phase will see the fall of hated Arab regimes, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Oil suppliers will be attacked and the U.S. economy will be targeted with cyber terrorism.

Phase 5: An Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared between 2013 and 2016.

Phase 6: "Total confrontation," beginning in 2016, will see the Islamic army begin the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" that has been predicted by Osama bin Laden.

Phase 7: "Definitive victory."

Hussein writes that this phase should be completed by 2020, and that the terrorists believe the caliphate will prove victorious because the rest of the world will be beaten down by an army of "one and a half billion Muslims."