It is 405 miles from our house to the devastation you see every night on the news in Haiti. We did not feel the earthquake directly. But being so close to Haiti has given the tragedy an extra emotional impact among our people. Last Saturday we had a pastors’ fellowship. One of the first items we discussed was how to help our near neighbors, the Haitians, in their moments of desperate need.
We sympathize with them greatly. Puerto Rico is no stranger to natural disasters. We ourselves have suffered loss in the floods and hurricanes that strike hard here in the Caribbean. Other situations are looming as well: We are 285 miles from a volcano that is erupting on the island of Montserrat. Earthquakes to the west and volcanoes to the south-east, people are getting nervous.
In order to help people in trouble, like the Haitians, and to help our own people, We have decided to take some measures to equip ourselves to respond and offer some kind of aid and services. I have acquired a Ham radio license. This qualifies me to participate in emergency disaster drills. Besides being able to provide aid during an actual emergency, I think just being able to participate in the drills would be a great asset to our evangelism here. We could be a witness to the other emergency care providers and also be identified as a valuable resource by the people of our community.
But…in order to participate I need a radio: a Ham radio capable of being set up quickly in the field. Ideally, it would be something like the radio in this link (http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/hamhf/3450.html). The radio and accessories to make it useful for field and rescue work run about $1,200.
I know it's not cheap. It is expensive to be prepared for an emergency. But what other people tell me is, it can be even more expensive to NOT be prepared for an emergency.
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