By Steve G4EDG / ZD9CW
On the 18/19th July, Tristan suffered a terrifying storm, the worst for nearly twenty years. Severe damage was suffered by residential, administration buildings as well as to the school and fish processing factory. Thankfully nobody was injured, but life on the island has been severely affected and work is in progress to repair the buildings. Materials for this task are on their way from South Africa on the MV Edinburgh, the same boat that took me to the island last year for my ZD9CW operation, a rough journey of seven days.
Perhaps DXers would consider making a donation to help with the daunting task of restoring Tristan to some sort of normality.
The UK is providing emergency support ( see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-ahmads-statement-on-tristan-da-cunha-after-severe-storms ) but I’m sure this won’t cover everything. See http://www.tristandc.com for the latest news.
For DXers wanting to visit, it IS possible for very small groups, but there are only 10 scheduled boat voyages per year and 9 of them will only take 12 passengers and tend to be quite slow and “bouncy”. The SA Agulhas 2 takes a lot more passengers every September but is very popular. Medevacs, islanders and their relatives, contractors, government workers take priority over tourists on all the ships.
Sad day for the Island. Let’s hope the United Kingdom will provide emergency support since Triston is a territory of that country.