Per http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1475927/posts the firefighters are taking sniper fire and have barracaded themselves inside the building. -----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu]On Behalf Of Michael Greb Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 5:16 PM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: Tidbit from DirectNIC On Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 11:54:10AM -0400, Steven Champeon wrote:

on Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 04:44:49PM +0100, Michael.Dillon@btradianz.com wrote:

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-----snip----- Fox News is reporting that there is an operation underway to refill chillers at the Bell South building down the street to keep phone service available to much of the southeast United States. That is apparently where all the firetrucks are going to in the area, in case you were wondering. -----snip-----

It is interesting to note that it is possible to bring in diesel and water to resupply BellSouth yet it is impossible to bring in water and food for the residents, not to mention a fleet of small boats that could have

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prevented thousands from dying trapped inside their attics.

1) potable water is probably somewhat different from the water used in chillers or fire trucks

2) phone service is, IMHO, one helpful pre-requisite to providing emergency care and disaster relief

3) the pictures I've been seeing have been full of boats, many of them thrown up on land a few hundred feet from their berths

Not saying that the utter failure of DHS as an organization isn't on evidence here. Just saying that it's one thing to feed and water a

Last year after Ivan phone service played no roll in emergency care or disaster relief. Ham Radio operators, myself included, were stationed at each shelter, the Red Cross and Salvation Army command centers, the county EOC, hospitals, and some assigned to shadow important people such as the mayor whereever they went. Every agency participating had a presence at the county EOC. When an ambulance was needed at a shelter, it was called for via ham radio, an operator at the EOC passed the message to the ambulance dispatcher in the same room, they called the ambulance out. Those in their home and not in a shelter had no way to call for help but the city and county themselves did not rely on phone service for anything. This is why the federal government gives so much valuable radio spectrum to Ham Radio, more then any other service, the principal purpose of Ham Radio is to provide emergency communications in times of need. plant

and quite another to feed and water a human being, let alone tens of thousands of them.

Michael Greb