[EAS] EAS monitoring sources

[Mike McCarthy]

There is an interesting SET report in this month's QST on a simulated 9.0
quake/tsunami in the Cascadia subduction fault off Washington/Oregon
state. Their SET parameters included the loss of most landline and
commercial wireless operations. IOW, no commercial phones or internet
along coastal areas which would be inundated by water. This would include
the Seattle/Tucoma metro as well as Portland and Vancouver, BC.

In the SET, the only facilities operating are those elevated above the
inundation line and siesmic hardened microwave and LMR type wireless.
Operations involved comm's towards inland locations where services have
survived the quake and the EOC's manned and operating. Many staffing
presumptions were taken in the SET which may or may not be possible.  Such
as blockage due to down trees, flooded/washed out roads from failed dams.

What the QST summary concluded is most agencies are ill-prepared for
surviving, let alone responding to a major regional disaster which
summarily neutralizes the vast majority of typical communications modes
and means. They lack both the facilities and manpower (let alone properly
trained) to meaningfully respond. And again, this presumes there are
people around to provide any response, let along a meaningful response.

Bluntly put, the comment will be..."What EAS...we're a communications
island. There's no way or one to relay." Now, I'm sure Clay and folks
there have considered means to get P2P messaging to the mountain top TX
sites which will survive the inundation. However, not everyone will have
that capability.

MM

On Fri, August 26, 2016 10:24 am, Clay Freinwald wrote:
> Dan wrote-

> Amazing how many times, when all else fails, we fall back to wireless
> systems.    Why is it that Amateur Radio gets called in to save the day
> (time after time) It's not because they have call letters replacing last
> names...It's because their primary means of communication is wireless and