On Saturday morning, April 20, a powerful 7.0 Richter scale earthquake struck Ya'an City in China’s Sichuan province. The epicenter was near Lushan County. There are reports of at least 179 people killed and nearly 7000 injured.

Amateurs in Sichuan province took immediate action with Liu Hu, BD8AAA and BA8DX leading a team to the disaster area to provide emergency communication services. In the meantime, the FM repeater in Ya’an City is still functioning. BG8FUW in Lushan county and BG8EYD in Ya'an City are using the repeater to coordinate local efforts.

With April 20 being the second day of GlobalSet, the Global Simulated Emergency Test, CRAC/CRSA Headquarters station BY3CQ made contact with BG8DE, who was also on his way to the earthquake area to assist.

The Chinese Radio Sports Association and Chinese Radio Amateur Club ask all amateurs to avoid 3855, 7050 and 14270 kHz as these frequencies will be used for disaster relief communications.

 Our thanks to Fan Bin, BA1RB