In the summer of 1998, a series of strong storms passed through the Pittsburgh area. O'Hara Township, where my wife, son and I had recently purchased our first home, was one of the hardest hit communities, aside from Mount Washington where a tornado inflicted significant damage.

The summer storms of 1998 left my family sitting in the dark with no telephone and with most of our roads blocked by downed trees. This was my first taste of natural disaster (albeit a relatively minor one) and I became painfully aware of just how unprepared we were. With the exception of one cell phone carrier in our area, all forms of telephone communications were inoperable. With many of the roads blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines, lost motorists were frantically trying to get to their homes, uncertain of their loved ones' well being and unable to reach them. And although I had a working cell phone that I was letting people use, they were unable to communicate with their families or their neighbors because the landline phones were inoperable.

Had the storm been more severe and involved many severe injuries and casualties, my community would have been hard-pressed to cope with the situation. FACT is, people and communities are NOT prepared for Major Emergencies and they should be.

Since the storms of 1998, I have become a licensed Amateur Radio Operator (KB3FXI) and I continue to work toward becoming more prepared for natural disasters and emergency situations. I want to try to help local communities and individuals get their neighborhoods more prepared for emergency situations.

My specific goals with PA-SitRep.com are:

• I want to make available the most comprehensive website for Emergency Communications information for Citizens of Pennsylvania via www.PA-SitRep.com.
• To create some basic standards and protocols for emergency communications utilizing e-mail, landline phones, cell phones, text messaging via cell phones and pagers, Amateur Radio, FRS radios and CB radios. Every community and local government should have a basic communications protocol in place for their residents in the event of an emergency where normal means of communications are disrupted. Even a local network consisting of some neighbors with FRS radios and a few basic standards to follow in the event of an emergency is better than nothing at all.
• And I want to help bring those who are interested in doing so into the Amateur Radio Community where they will have the ability to communicate efficiently in times of disaster and where they can become part of a team of Amateur Radio Operators who are dedicated to volunteering their communications services in the event of an emergency.

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

PLEASE spread the word on PA-SitRep.com!

-Dave Kleber KB3FXI

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