Emergency communications within the ward in an emergency

[KC4DMG]

Will anyone share what their ward will do when an emergency happens as far as communications goes. Don't want to see the entire emergency preparedness plan. I am interested in what is being used. ex:  hams, FRS/GRMS cell phones etc. If so, what freq on each etc.
Thanks
Jim/KC4DMG

[KI6DKC]

Our ward has no plan.  Literally no plan.  The stake has asked many times for one but no plan was forthcoming.  I am now on the second bishop asking for a plan and heck even an emergency prep person for the ward.  Still nothing.

Part of our problem is geography.  In our ward boundaries we have a city, a town, a military base, and miles and miles of rural areas.  Basically, I made my own plan. I  live in the rural area but am close to about half my home teaching families.  My home teaching comp lives in the city and is close to about the other half.  We each check on those families we live close to.  He is near the ward building and where the Bishopric lives so he could get word to them.  I live nowhere near there but have Ham Radio to at least communicate with the stake.  So that's my plan.

[WØOZY]

My brother (w3ezy) and I have been talking about getting some things organized and we have heard about some good stuff from other wards/steaks - i am rushed for time right now but will write up more later...

[N4OLW]

     I'm setting up the system in our Branch for 2 different senerios.  First, if the event is such that  there is no evacuation, the Home Teachers have the responsibility to contact their families and check on their status.  They then report back to the Branch Com Center, the Com Center records the information, and reports the data to the Brach President, and acts as the comm link to the Stake Comm Center.

     In the event of a disaster on the magnitude of Katrina, where local help is not avaible, and outside help comes in, I am setting up a database of membership, and including GPS maps to each home.  This will be avaible from a number of selected leaders.

     I am also in the process of setting up a Stake wide 2 meter net, identifing and contacting all LDS hams in the Stake.  I think we need a standard set of procedures, and that neibeoring Stakes shoud coordinate with each other.  This would reduce the time required to get the system up and running.  I hope this helps.

     Ed

[wb7sgl]

I remember this post and don't believe I haven't posted a reply to it yet.

I am the Stake Comm Spec. and also on the Ward Em Prep Committee.

In my stake role, I was responsible for writing the stake comm plan. From the stake level, we do not dictate how the last mile communication is solved. We simply establish line of communication, putting the responsibility on the Ward to provide a trained comm specialist. We are providing the training at the Stake level, in fact, I am on deck for the training on 5/28.

At the ward level, we have not dictated HOW the communication is done. The ward has yet to provide a designated communications person. We do however specify the block captain layout for checking on families versus Home teaching routes. The Home Teachers are not geographically based and as such, in our LARGE ward, it would not service us well in a disaster like a blizzard or anything else that limited geographical reach. The block captains are literally geographically based.

I took the addresses in the Ward. Converted them to Lat/Lon coordinates, created a KML file with all of the addresses listed, imported that KML file into Google Earth, then used the polygon tool to draw boundaries around neighborhoods. The priesthood leadership then assigned block captains and Co-Captains from those areas and neighboring areas respectively.

I hope this helps!
Rob WB7SGL

[K4BSC]

We have a plan but it is only a Ward Plan. We are setting up Team captains in various geographic sections of the Ward. They are responsible for members using Phone, Cell Phone, cell txting, e-mail, or driving to command post with information about their area. None have technician licenses and with the of Ward being 80 sq miles, FRS is out of the question. We have two command posts, the bishops house on one side of a major river and my house on the other side. (The church is not in Ward boundaries; about a 30 minute drive.) I am the only licensed HAM in the Ward (besides my wife and son).

There is not a stake plan. So who are we going to communicate with if all communications are down if there isn't a planned radio command post near someone in the stake presidency? Our stake is over 1700 sq miles in area. Our ward has a plan because we are divided with a major waterway that only has one point of crossing for miles in our hurricane prone area.

[KX7DX]

I found all the information left by other very informative.  I too am our ward emergency communication specialist.  I have never been a supportive member of the idea of using amateur radio for church emergency communications.  However, I have look for other methods, CB Radios, GMRS, string & tin cans.. 

One of the other types of communications in our ward has been somewhat successful.  I have a very simple Ward emergency communications Plan  -- CB Radio Channel 2 -- Call sign last four number of your telephone.  As most of you suspect I was about the only one who though about emergency communications for the ward members -- To get CB's in the hands of other members, I took it upon myself to purchase CB radios off ebay and never pay more than $20 (including shipping) I then tested the radio made sure they were working and sold them to members for $20 with a return of another radio it they had problems with it.  I now have about 40 radios in the hands of the members.  Six times a year I hold a radio test with the radios to see if they are still working and the members know what to do with them.  Because we live in an earthquake area (Seattle, WA) I don't have assigned operators. In any embergency you never can depend on who is home and who isn't so no assigned operators.  The plan is more like a bouncing ball.  Get on the radio and see what other members you can contact -- then find who they can talk to. It is more like a peer to peer relay system. -- Our best test we asked to have everyone trying their radios to report how many members they knew were OK  -- this resulted in 43 members being counted -- that is 10% of  our ward -- not great numbers but a good start.. 

Most members want the "Portable emegency" radios  -- Plug into a car cig lighter and pop the magnetic antenna on top  the car.  This is far from the best radio setup but they do work for a 1 to 2 mile range, and it lets them travel in their car and still contact other ward members if everyone was evacuating.  For those who want a big signal I help them put up base type antennas, or mount 5/8 cb antennas to their car. By default when they are on more members are contacted and better relay between more stations.

Just another way to get the end results --- If all else fails -- we can try radio..

Dan
KX7DX