Online registration ends July 31 open for the 2014 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (GAREC) Conference. GAREC-2014 will focus on the application of advanced technologies in emergency communication when it returns to Huntsville, Alabama, August 14-15. The conference is being held in conjunction with the Huntsville Hamfest (the ARRL Southeastern Division Convention) on August 16 and 17 at the Von Braun Convention Center. Emergency communication experts from around the world will be on hand to discuss local, regional and global activities, operations and lessons learned and to explore new and better ways to successfully coordinate communication during disasters and emergencies. GAREC-2007 also took place in Huntsville. All emergency communication-minded radio amateurs and professionals are welcome.

The first GAREC Conference took place in Tampere, Finland, in 2005, and sessions have been held each year since, with participation by representatives of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). The mission of the GAREC Conference is to foster the exchange of information and experiences with the goal of better preparing Amateur Radio operators for dealing with emergency communications and of creating practices at the national and international levels.

The program will include a presentation on the 2013 Amateur Radio response to Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in the Philippines. Some 100 Amateur Radio volunteers, many affiliated with the Ham Emergency Radio Operations (HERO) network, had a hand in providing emergency communication in the storm’s aftermath. Working through the IARU member-society, the Philippines Amateur Radio Association, they helped agencies during the response and recovery phases of the disaster. Other presentations will focus on the work of radio amateurs following flooding in Brazil and the Fukushima tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster in Japan. Delegates also will see the work of Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) and the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS).

This is the ninth annual GAREC. In addition to the US, previous conferences have taken place previously in Germany, Japan, Curacao, South Africa, Malaysia, and Switzerland. — Thanks to Jim Linton, VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee