Portable radios are useless when radio stations are totally down.
The local communities in Louisiana should be preparing for hurricane season. With the existing conditions in Louisiana after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, will the radio stations be able to maintain the local communities in the event of another disaster?
Many stations went off of the air following hurricane Katrina. The fact that the majority of stations are digitized broadcasts from outside of the local areas, will the broadcasts finally be geared towards local community resources?
Do the local radio stations have the necessary equipment to operate in a power outage?
Amateur Radio Emergency Service indicates from its website that they extensively assisted in Emergency Operations during Katrina. Of interest are their E mail Newsletters summarizing events post Katrina. This service was never broadcast by the media, although I have just happened across the Emergency Radio HAM operator in the state of Florida, who broadcasts in the event of a hurricane.
The importance of maintaining local radio stations after an emergency to assist local communities in organizing relief and rescue operations cannot be emphasized. During hurricane Katrina’s aftermath there was a large amount of dis-information and mis-information coming from local Police and Fire Departments, Sheriff offices and the community. Information changed at sucha fast pace during the course of the days that followed Katrina. It was difficult to ascertain exactly WHAT was going on or who to trust for reliable information.
