BENGALURU: For the first time, the Indian Postal Service in the state of Karnataka along with the Indian Institute of Hams (IIH) is helping assist the flood-affected areas of North Karnataka by bridging the communication gaps.
13 members from the Indian Postal Service (IPS) along with four Hams members are heading to Belgaum to provide communication equipment which can cover a 100-kilometre radius.
“We will be there for the next three days. Our equipment does not need electricity and are VHS based equipments,” said Shankar Sathyapal, Director of IIH.
The team is travelling in three vehicles and will focus on Belgaum district. “We will be visiting shelters and relief centres there and see how we can help,” he added.
Last year, during the Coorg floods, several of the officers from the postal department faced a communication crisis and hence took up the training yesterday. A disaster communication mock drill was conducted by IIH at the Postal Training Centre, Mysuru, yesterday. The programme started with a session on disaster communication network by Sathyapal, and Dr Charles Lobo, Chief Post Master General, Karnataka circle followed by the mock drill.
“Around 14 postal officials are Ham operators and under the banner of IIH. We also had Satyanarayan, VU2DSV Postmaster, Vijayawada, Manjunath, VU3CJM who assisted in conducting this programme. As there was a good response, we decided to assist in the ongoing relief operations in Belgaum district. The team will carry sufficient equipment to handle the crises. This will be the first time that Indian Postal Department, Karnataka circle will using Ham services,” said Satypal.