At 2245 UTC on 16th September an 8.3 Magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chile causing Tsunami waves along the coast up to 4.5m high in places. Eleven people are known to have died with many more evacuated from coastal areas.

According to reports from Chile, Radio Amateurs from “RED Chilena de Emergencia de Radioaficionados” are operational on 7050 and 7080/85kHz working with ONEMI, the Chilean Governments Interior and Public Safety ministry to gather reports from rural communities. The networks have been supported by radio amateurs in Argentina and Peru.

The Amateur Radio community in Chile is well prepared for disasters with frequent drills, in recognition that the country is in a zone where seismic activity occurs frequently. Although most of the activity was immediately after the earthquake and tsunami warnings please remember that aftershocks may trigger an amateur radio response again.

Source: Marisa Tobella Pinto CE2MT, Cesar Pio Santos HR2P, Jim Linton VK3PC