820,000 Norweigan Kroner to Support Ham Radio Emergency Comms
/The Norwegian Radio Relay League will receive more than NOK 820,000 (£69,651) from the Gjensidige Foundation to strengthen emergency preparedness.
This will enable an important and long-awaited boost for us, and will significantly strengthen the preparedness in our area, says Henrik Solhaug in the Norwegian Radio Relay League.
For several years, the Gjensidige Foundation has been concerned that volunteer rescue crews, among other things, lack the necessary, suitable and good technical equipment. This weakens the entire voluntary rescue service and emergency preparedness in Norway. Therefore, NOK 54 million was set aside for FORF (Voluntary Organizations' Rescue Professional Forum), which includes the seven organizations that make up the backbone of the voluntary rescue service . Among the applications that were approved was the Norwegian Radio Relay League, which now receives funding to contribute to a safer society through a further development of the rescue service.
“This is fantastic news for us. The money we have received we will use to develop and produce new tracking units that we use in the rescue service. With the newly developed tracking units, we can secure volunteer crews and dogs that are out on action with better accuracy than before. By the tracking units sending an almost continuous signal about their position, we can show where the crews are on a map in real time - regardless of existing infrastructure. Accurate tracks are also a good help for those who lead the action because it makes it easier to plan the action further.”
In addition to the money to be used for the development of new tracking units, the Norwegian Radio Relay League has received funding for much-needed equipment and joint exercises and skills development from our groups around the country, together with groups from the other voluntary organizations. With important and correct material available, our capacity increases, which benefits the patient we mobilize for. In addition, we will, together with other recipients, hold professional days and carry out exercises that will strengthen the competence of operational management and collaborate with other rescue agencies.
Volunteer rescue crews have been a critical part of the Norwegian rescue service for more than 50 years. In close cooperation with the police and the Main Rescue Center, they have during these years searched for, and found, thousands of missing and saved hundreds of lives. These are tasks that the public sector itself does not have the capacity to perform, and volunteers have largely covered the costs themselves.
Without the significant effort from the voluntary rescue service, we would not have had the unique emergency preparedness system we have in Norway. But countless stories that volunteer crews have to finance clothing, equipment and technological aids themselves have shown that there is potential for improvement. Therefore, we are pleased to be able to allocate funds to strengthen the voluntary rescue service. Not only for materials and equipment, but also for competence-enhancing measures, for experimental activities and innovation as well as for recruitment work. With this holistic approach, we have wanted to contribute to a lasting strengthening so that the voluntary rescue service in Norway is best equipped to handle tomorrow's challenges, says Ingrid Tollånes who is head of gift awards at the Gjensidige Foundation.
