HF to the rescue in Malaysian floods

In early 2015, Malaysia was hit with the worst flooding the region had seen in recent years, with many emergency services not fully prepared to cope with the situation.

The east coast states of the peninsula were the most severely affected, and more than 100,000 people needed to be evacuated.

With communications infrastructure damaged, coordination of aid and emergency supplies became very difficult.

At the height of the floods, amateur radio operators assisted government agencies in their relief efforts, as this was seen to be the most effective and reliable way of communicating.

At this time, Tactical Communications (Tacticom), the Barrett Communications authorised dealer in Malaysia, contacted the Ministry of Health (MOH) to offer HF radio communications equipment to help re-establish reliable and secure communications.

The priority was to re-establish communications with a hospital in Temerloh, in the state of Pahang, which had been completely cut off from the telephone network.

Tacticom provided a Barrett PRC-2090 base station, which was installed at the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) at the MOH headquarters in Putrajaya, plus a second radio, a Barrett 2050 base station, for the hospital.

The hospital station was run by a staff member who is also an active amateur radio operator.

“The situation at the Temerloh Hospital was urgent. There were patients at the hospital that required specialised treatment that could no longer receive their treatment [there],” said Tacticom Managing Director Zakaria Dahili. “Once radio communications was established, helicopter air lifts were arranged to transport these patients to other hospitals.”

An additional five 2050 base stations were donated by Barrett Communications for installation at five more rural hospitals in other states in the region.

Tacticom remained committed to assisting the MOH should a further need eventuate.

“Thank you for your contribution and cooperation. Please extend our sincere appreciation to all members of the Persatuan Amateur Radio and Barrett Communications,” said Dato’ Dr Fadzilah binti Kamaludin, Head, Office of Deputy Director General of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, in an email.

“The floods have now receded, and hope we can work again in the future.”

Image caption: Malaysian Ministry of Health staff using a Barrett PRC-2090 HF tactical radio. Image courtesy Barrett Communications.