Closure of the SAWDOS Blog - 31 March 2013

This will be the final posting on the SAWDOS Blog.

This blog will no longer be updated but will remain available for research and historical purposes.

Please note:

1. SAWDOS will still be active on our FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/374316165928426/ 

2. SAWDOS will still be active on our TWITTER ACCOUNT at: @SAWDOS1

3. For those who wish to see the reasons for closing of the SAWDOS Blog click HERE , HERE, and HERE.

Looking forward to re-meet many of you on Facebook and Twitter!

J. Terblanche
Founder: SAWDOS + SAWDIS
Mossel Bay
31 March 2013

Closure of the SAWDOS Blog - 31 March 2013

It is a day of mixed emotions for the Founder of the  SAWDOS and the SAWDOS Blog. The first blog (S.A. Weather and Disaster Information Service - with hits to date) was created on the 8 October 2008.  A new blog (SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service with hits to date) with subsequent name change was created on the 1 January 2012.

Today (31 March 2013) is the end of the road for the SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service Blog.  It is the end of an era but the beginning of a new venture. The time has come for one unified organization to keep the public informed about severe weather conditions by means of real time weather observation. The  statement available HERE set out the current merger/amalgamation plans.

SAWDOS has indicated in the past that restructuring of the SAWDOS Blog is essential. The topic is available HERE. In the mean time discussions took place between HAMNET, SAWDOS and Kobus Botha (Weatherphotos). An agreement has been reached as set out by HAMNET in their statement.

The use and updating of the SAWDOS blog as of 1 April 2013 will constitute a duplication of weather observation information. The web-site of Kobus Botha at www.weatherphotos.co.za contains all the necessary information pertaining to the weather in South Africa. Disaster information and communications will be available on the HAMNET web, Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Twitter and Facebook pages of the SAWDOS also contain valuable information and images supplied by the public. As a result of the merger/amalgamation the SAWDOS Blog will be closed  at the end of the day on the 31 March 2013. The SAWDOS Twitter and SAWDOS Facebook pages will remain active until the merge and amalgamation has been completed.

SAWDOS would like to recommend that subscribers and users of the SAWDOS Blog migrate to Kobus Botha's Weather Photos of South Africa so as to get acquainted with the workings of the site. Kobus has an excellent site with information and data. Click HERE to visit Weather Photos of South Africa.

SAWDOS, HAMNET and Weatherphotos will keep the public informed on a regular basis as to changes that will occur in the next few months.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our readers, weather observers, the media, NGO'S, Disaster Management, Radio Amateurs and others who supported/contributed to the SAWDOS Blog in the past. You all made the Blog a source of information that I believe was of great benefit to South Africans and citizens abroad and around the world.  A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!

Johan Terblanche
Founder:  SAWDOS and SAWDIS
Mossel Bay
31 March 2013

Seacom cable repair operation continues

Johannesburg - Cable company Seacom was still working on repairing the damaged undersea cables that had disrupted internet services, a statement on its website said on Friday.

Internet service providers have been reporting cuts to their systems since 22 March and Seacom has had to re-route its disrupted lines.

International internet connectivity between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe has largely been affected.

In the statement, posted on Thursday, Seacom said it was in the process of restoring transmission to affected customers.

"We again apologise to those customers who continue to be impacted following the further fault on the restoration system SMW4," said Seacom.

Earlier in the week, the company confirmed it had received reports about three people arrested for cutting Seacom cables in Egypt.

Seacom said it did not believe that the initial disruptions were a sabotage operation.

"We think it is unlikely that the damage to our system was caused by sabotage. The reasons for this are the specific location, distance from shore, much greater depth, the presence of a large anchored vessel on the fault site which appears to be the cause of the damage and other characteristics of the event," said Seacom.

The incident was still being investigated.

Seacom said full transmission would likely be restored by early April.

- SAPA/News24

Problems: Updating of the SAWDOS Blog, Twitter Messages and accessing Overseas Networks.

Dear MWEB Customer

The Seacom cable, which provides a significant portion of our international capacity, has been damaged off the coast of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea. Early indications are that it may take up to two weeks to repair the break and restore full capacity. We also have capacity on the WACS cable, which runs up the west coast of Africa, and this is currently able to meet about 45% of our total needs. As a result, most international services will be degraded. We are in ongoing discussions with various operators to secure additional capacity to meet our total requirements until such time as the Seacom cable is fully operational again.

We will keep you updated of any changes to this situation via e-mail, our Facebook page and twitter.

Kind regards
The MWEB Team

Problems: Updating of the SAWDOS Blog, Twitter Messages and accessing Overseas Networks.

SAWDOS is still experiencing problems in updating the SAWDOS BLOG, SAWDOS TWITTER and SAWDOS FACEBOOK pages as a result of the undersea cable break in the Mediterranean between Egypt and France. From 08h00 to midnight it is virtually impossible to update these pages. Early morning updating is possible but also at a very slow upload rate.

SAWDOS regret and apologise for no updates that is impacting our viewers and the ultimate users of our services. However the current problem is beyond our control.

This outage just show how vulnerable the Internet can be and that we need to look at alternative means of communications in the event of a total collapse of the Internet. Thankfully SAWDOS can always rely on amateur radio in the event of a disaster. SAWDOS trust that this problem will be sorted in no time and that we can once again return to our regular service and schedule.

- SAWDOS

Problems: Updating of the SAWDOS Blog, Twitter Messages and accessing Overseas Networks.

SAWDOS is still experiencing problems in updating the SAWDOS BLOG, SAWDOS TWITTER and SAWDOS FACEBOOK pages as a result of the undersea cable break in the Mediterranean between Egypt and France.  From 08h00 to midnight it is virtually impossible to update these pages.  Early morning updating is possible but also at a very slow upload rate. 


SAWDOS regret and apologise for no updates that is impacting our viewers and the ultimate users of our services.  However the current problem is beyond our control.

This outage just show how vulnerable the Internet can be and that we need to look at alternative means of communications in the event of a total collapse of the Internet.  Thankfully SAWDOS can always rely on amateur radio in the event of a disaster.  SAWDOS trust that this problem will be sorted in no time and that we can once again return to our regular service and schedule.

Reminder: Closure of the SAWDOS BLOG - Merger/Amalgamation of SAWDOS/HAMNET/Kobus Botha's Weather Photos of South Africa

 

The merger or amalgamation of SAWDOS (South African Weather and Disaster Observation Service) and HAMNET, on Facebook, are now under discussion with Johan Terblanche, ZS1I and ZS6BUU as well as Kobus Botha, ZS6KOB who runs the www.weatherphotos.co.za website.

Kobus has offered HAMNET space on his website and Johan and Francois are discussing how the merger of the two Facebook and Twitter sites can take place over a period of time.

In a separate report later in this bulletin, Hamnet will be taken over by a ‘team’ and Francois, will maintain an interest and supporting role by way of the merger of the two aforementioned sites.

This has a long term benefit. The merger will be a good platform for the man in the street to get more insight into amateur radio and at the same time, have access to a site that highlights ‘real time’ weather conditions in South Africa.

In the USA, they have an excellent system called ‘SKYWARN’. This system does not exist in South Africa. But, with the combination of SAWDOS and HAMNET, we are actually creating such a system whereby both amateur radio operators as well as followers of SAWDOS can contribute to a site that gives us more and better information into weather conditions in our country.

Johan and I approached the South African Weather Service on many occasions in an effort to get them to participate in such a venture or project. Their response was deafening!

HAMNET, once the merger is complete, will fill this gap which will have access to Radio and Media for information and reports on weather conditions in our country especially during the summer months as well as winter. Snow is occurring more often than before and sometimes with annoying if not uncomfortable situations.

We put up a ‘teaser’ on Facebook to measure response to such a venture, and the feedback was very positive.

Systems are now being developed to launch this ‘real time’ weather – and other disaster site, in South Africa and you will be informed on a regular basis of progress! The Media will also be informed of this new venture across the country once all is in place!

- HAMNET

The above insert by HAMNET relates:

The time has come for one unified organization to keep the public informed about severe weather conditions by means of real time weather observation. The above statement set out the current merger/amalgamation plans.

SAWDOS has indicated in the past that restructuring of the SAWDOS Blog is essential. The topic is available HERE. In the mean time discussions took place between HAMNET, SAWDOS and Kobus Botha (Weatherphotos). An agreement has been reached as set out by HAMNET in the above statement.

The use and updating of the SAWDOS blog as of 1 April 2013 will constitute a duplication of weather observation information. The web-site of Kobus Botha at www.weatherphotos.co.za contains all the necessary information pertaining to the weather in South Africa. Disaster information and communications will be available on the HAMNET web, Facebook and Twitter pages. The Twitter and Facebook pages of the SAWDOS also contain valuable information and images supplied by the public. As a result of the merger/amalgamation the SAWDOS Blog will be closed on the 31 March 2013. The SAWDOS and SAWDOS Facebook pages will remain active until the merge and amalgamation has been completed. SAWDOS would like to recommend that subscribers and users of the SAWDOS Blog migrate to Kobus Botha's Weather Photos of South Africa so as to get acquainted with the workings of the site. Kobus has an excellent site with great  information and data. Click HERE to visit Weather Photos of South Africa.

SAWDOS, HAMNET and Weatherphotos will keep the public informed on a regular basis as to changes that will occur in the next few months.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SAWDOS BLOG WILL BE CLOSED ON THE 31 MARCH 2013.

Seacom downtime apology

Seacom CEO Mark Simpson has apologized for the outage on the cable system today (22 March 2013) which has impacted numerous broadband users in South Africa.

“Seacom recognises and acknowledges that it is a key provider of connectivity for most carriers and therefore a large number of consumers in Southern and Eastern Africa,” said Simpson.

“We regret and apologise for today’s outage that is impacting our customers and the ultimate users of our services in these countries.”

“During this outage we have, as we always endeavour to do, kept our customers and the wider user community informed by direct communications and through our website and social media platforms.”

Simpson said that services are beginning to come up now (Friday evening), and that they will continue to work to restore services through this evening.

“We also continue to work with our industry colleagues to provide potential solutions to customers on other impacted systems,” said Simpson.

Seacom provided the following summary of events which caused the outage:

At 05:56 GMT on 22nd March, SEACOM experienced a cable cut on its SEACOM cable system between Egypt and Europe.

We understand that several other cable systems (some of which SEACOM also utilises as part of its network) were also affected at the same time and went down on this same route through the Mediterranean, thereby affecting transmission bandwidth from Southern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East and Asia to Europe.

It is important to note that the affected route forms only one portion of the Seacom network. As a data network communications provider, Seacom offers an array of services over multiple subsea and terrestrial cable routes. While the Seacom cable system is a key component of this network it is not the only cable system or available route in the Seacom network.

For example, Seacom’s IP network is not down, as the Seacom cable system also directly connects Southern and Eastern Africa to Asia via India. Therefore, customers on Seacom’s IP Service are still able to connect to the Internet, although it should be noted that they are encountering some congestion due the fact that many service provider customers are routing as much additional traffic as possible via this link for restoration purposes.

The Seacom Network also has a considerable amount of capacity deployed on the WACS cable system that provides services and diversity to several large ISPs up the west coast of Africa to Europe.

We continue to invest in adding new routes and capacity to our network to improve diversity and resilience, especially for those customers utilising our IP Service.

- BusinessTech

Problems: Updating of the SAWDOS Blog, Twitter Messages and accessing Overseas Networks.

SeaCOM update: There is an undersea cable break in the Mediterranean between Egypt and France. The undersea cut is in the TENorth submarine cable near Aboutalat towards Marseilles in wet segment. This is within Egyptian territorial waters.

At this time there is still no ETTR*.

Problems: Updating of the SAWDOS Blog, Twitter Messages and accessing Overseas Networks.

SeaCOM update: There is an undersea cable break in the Mediterranean between Egypt and France. The undersea cut is in the TENorth submarine cable near Aboutalat towards Marseilles in wet segment. This is within Egyptian territorial waters.

At this time there is still no ETTR*.

Important Notice: SAWDOS

IMPORTANT: The S.A. Weather and Disaster Observation Service provides a weather and disaster observation (Weather and Disaster Watching/Spotting) service  in South Africa and not a weather prediction or disaster management service. Do not use the information on this web-page to predict weather or disasters.

The SAWDOS is not responsible for, nor do we endorse the opinions, accuracy, or comments of re-posted articles from other sites, unless specifically so indicated in our post. Often we may refer to articles which are diametrically opposed to our vision and mission, in order to provoke additional thought and further education.

Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay

"SAWDOS - A SERVICE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE"

Important Notice: SAWDOS

IMPORTANT: The S.A. Weather and Disaster Observation Service provides a weather and disaster observation (Weather and Disaster Watching/Spotting) service  in South Africa and not a weather prediction or disaster management service. Do not use the information on this web-page to predict weather or disasters.

The SAWDOS is not responsible for, nor do we endorse the opinions, accuracy, or comments of re-posted articles from other sites, unless specifically so indicated in our post. Often we may refer to articles which are diametrically opposed to our vision and mission, in order to provoke additional thought and further education.

Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay

"SAWDOS - A SERVICE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE"

Important Notice: SAWDOS

IMPORTANT: The S.A. Weather and Disaster Observation Service provides a weather and disaster observation (Weather and Disaster Watching/Spotting) service  in South Africa and not a weather prediction or disaster management service. Do not use the information on this web-page to predict weather or disasters.

The SAWDOS is not responsible for, nor do we endorse the opinions, accuracy, or comments of re-posted articles from other sites, unless specifically so indicated in our post. Often we may refer to articles which are diametrically opposed to our vision and mission, in order to provoke additional thought and further education.

Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay

"SAWDOS - A SERVICE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE"

Merger/Amalgamation of SAWDOS/HAMNET/Kobus Botha's Weather Photos of South Africa

The merger or amalgamation of SAWDOS (South African Weather and Disaster Observation Service) and HAMNET, on Facebook, are now under discussion with Johan Terblanche, ZS1I and ZS6BUU as well as Kobus Botha, ZS6KOB who runs the www.weatherphotos.co.za website.

Kobus has offered HAMNET space on his website and Johan and Francois are discussing how the merger of the two Facebook and Twitter sites can take place over a period of time.

In a separate report later in this bulletin, Hamnet will be taken over by a ‘team’ and Francois, will maintain an interest and supporting role by way of the merger of the two aforementioned sites.

This has a long term benefit. The merger will be a good platform for the man in the street to get more insight into amateur radio and at the same time, have access to a site that highlights ‘real time’ weather conditions in South Africa.

In the USA, they have an excellent system called ‘SKYWARN’. This system does not exist in South Africa. But, with the combination of SAWDOS and HAMNET, we are actually creating such a system whereby both amateur radio operators as well as followers of SAWDOS can contribute to a site that gives us more and better information into weather conditions in our country.

Johan and I approached the South African Weather Service on many occasions in an effort to get them to participate in such a venture or project. Their response was deafening!

HAMNET, once the merger is complete, will fill this gap which will have access to Radio and Media for information and reports on weather conditions in our country especially during the summer months as well as winter. Snow is occurring more often than before and sometimes with annoying if not uncomfortable situations.

We put up a ‘teaser’ on Facebook to measure response to such a venture, and the feedback was very positive.

Systems are now being developed to launch this ‘real time’ weather – and other disaster site, in South Africa and you will be informed on a regular basis of progress! The Media will also be informed of this new venture across the country once all is in place!

- HAMNET

The above insert by HAMNET relates:

The time has come for one unified organization to keep the public informed about severe weather conditions by means of real time weather observation. The above statement set out the current merger/amalgamation plans.

SAWDOS has indicated in the past that restructuring of the SAWDOS Blog is essential. The topic is available HERE. In the mean time discussions took place between HAMNET, SAWDOS and Kobus Botha (Weatherphotos). An agreement has been reached as set out by HAMNET in the above statement.

The use and updating of the SAWDOS blog as of 1 April 2013 will constitute a duplication of weather observation information. The web-site of Kobus Botha at www.weatherphotos.co.za contains all the necessary information pertaining to the weather in South Africa. Disaster information and communications will be available on the HAMNET web, Facebook and Twitter pages. The Twitter and Facebook pages of the SAWDOS also contain valuable information and images supplied by the public. As a result of the merger/amalgamation the SAWDOS Blog will be closed on the 31 March 2013. The SAWDOS and SAWDOS Facebook pages will remain active until the merge and amalgamation has been completed. SAWDOS would like to recommend that subscribers and users of the SAWDOS Blog migrate to Kobus Botha's Weather Photos of South Africa so as to get acquainted with the workings of the site. Kobus has an excellent site with great  information and data. Click HERE to visit Weather Photos of South Africa.

SAWDOS, HAMNET and Weatherphotos will keep the public informed on a regular basis as to changes that will occur in the next few months.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SAWDOS BLOG WILL BE CLOSED ON THE 31 MARCH 2013.

HAMNET BULLETIN March 2013

HAMNET THE SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION BULLETIN FOR MARCH 2013

This bulletin was prepared and produced by Francois Botha – ZS6BUU

HAMNET (IARU Region 1) dedicated emergency communication frequencies are:-

80m band – 3,760 MHz, 40m band, 7,110 MHz. 20m band – 14,300 MHz.


IN THE BULLETIN TODAY

WEATHER OBSERVATION NET

EASTER WEEKEND

NATIONAL DIRECTOR


HAMNET conforms to and abides by the IARU discipline of engaging in emergency communication locally and worldwide during and after disasters as internationally Amateur Radio is regarded as a National Resource!

HAMNET, as a group of volunteers, supports Disaster Risk Management in South Africa and serves on the sub committee of the South African Search & Rescue Organisation – SASAR!

It is recommended that when becoming a member of HAMNET, you also become an SARL member to abide by and conform to the IARU International and HAMNET rules regarding emergency communication!

All HAMNET information is available on www.hamnet.co.za alternatively www.sarl.org.za just follow the link! Weekly updates are supplied to Amateur Radio Today on Sunday’s and a monthly bulletin is supplied to members and available on the SARL website and as a podcast!

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter


WEATHER OBSERVATION NETWORK

The merger or amalgamation of SAWDOS (South African Weather  and Disaster Observation Service) and HAMNET, on Facebook, are now under discussion with Johan Terblanche, ZS1I and ZS6BUU as well as Kobus Botha, ZS6KOB who runs the www.weatherphotos.co.za website.

Kobus has offered HAMNET space on his website and Johan and Francois are discussing how the merger of the two Facebook and Twitter sites can take place over a period of time.

In a separate report later in this bulletin, Hamnet will be taken over by a ‘team’ and Francois, will maintain an interest and supporting role by way of the merger of the two aforementioned sites.

This has a long term benefit. The merger will be a good platform for the man in the street to get more insight into amateur radio and at the same time, have access to a site that highlights ‘real time’ weather conditions in South Africa.

In the USA, they have an excellent system called ‘SKYWARN’. This system does not exist in South Africa. But, with the combination of SAWDOS and HAMNET, we are actually creating such a system whereby both amateur radio operators as well as followers of SAWDOS can contribute to a site that gives us more and better information into weather conditions in our country.

Johan and I approached the South African Weather Service on many occasions in an effort to get them to participate in such a venture or project. Their response was deafening!

HAMNET, once the merger is complete, will fill this gap which will have access to Radio and Media for information and reports on weather conditions in our country especially during the summer months as well as winter. Snow is occurring more often than before and sometimes with annoying if not uncomfortable situations.

We put up a ‘teaser’ on Facebook to measure response to such a venture, and the feedback was very positive.

Systems are now being developed to launch this ‘real time’ weather – and other disaster site, in South Africa and you will be informed on a regular basis of progress! The Media will also be informed of this new venture across the country once all is in place!

EASTER WEEKEND AND HOLIDAYS

As usual, this coming March April again presents a number of long weekends and school holidays.

The Easter Weekend commences Thursday evening the 28th of March and ends Tuesday morning the 2nd of April. Coastal schools close 28 March and reopen 8 April whereas the inland schools close the 20th of March and reopens on 9 April. This means that the Easter Weekend in all Provinces falls within school holidays and that means there will probably be a lot of traffic on the roads!

The 27th of April is also a public holiday and with the 1st of May falling on the following Wednesday, we anticipate that many who did not make use of the Easter weekend will use this weekend for a break. Those who have children at school will use Easter, those with no children will use the alternative!

Hamnet in all cases will be monitoring our emergency frequencies but this time around I want us to make more use of 10,125 MHz in the 30m band. This is an excellent all round band and really suits the slightly longer distances between Gauteng and the Western Cape.

NATIONAL DIRECTOR

An announcement is in the offing regarding the position of National Director. At the Strategic Planning meeting held on Friday and Saturday 22 and 23 February at the NARC, this item was discussed fully and a proposal was put forward regarding the gradual take-over of this position over a period of time.

Francois will continue until such time as the full Hamnet operations is in the hands of the new incumbent. The announcement will in all probability be in the April Bulletin when my tenure as Councillor expires at the AGM. The new team will be meeting after the AGM to discuss the way forward!

Comments suggestions and contributions please contact or send to: jfbotha@iburst.co.za or zs6buu@gmail.com or at 011 679-5260 or 083 585-3847. Fax 086-580.6110.

Bulletin Ends.

Important Notice: SAWDOS

IMPORTANT: The S.A. Weather and Disaster Observation Service provides a weather and disaster observation (Weather and Disaster Watching/Spotting) service  in South Africa and not a weather prediction or disaster management service. Do not use the information on this web-page to predict weather or disasters.

The SAWDOS is not responsible for, nor do we endorse the opinions, accuracy, or comments of re-posted articles from other sites, unless specifically so indicated in our post. Often we may refer to articles which are diametrically opposed to our vision and mission, in order to provoke additional thought and further education.

Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay

"SAWDOS - A SERVICE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE"

HAMNET Weekly report 17 Feb. 2013.

Weather around the world is undergoing change and there is no longer any doubt about it. Lately we have seen heat waves in Australia, unprecedented snow falls on the American East Coast, typhoons, tornados and cyclones all over the place and also drought in many parts of the world.


Up to about 18 months ago, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) had an ‘open’ website whereby the man in the street could access and download or view various bits of interesting information.

What was particularly of value to Hamnet was to view Radar images to track weather moving in on any particular area as a precaution should we get a particularly heavy downpour and flooding be possible. The man in the street was denied access to almost all features of SAWS and all our approaches to them was totally ignored. We did not even get a ‘thanks but no thanks’ response from them.

At that stage the South African Weather and Disaster Observation Service, SAWDOS, on Facebook, was already in full swing and with the addition to Twitter, these sites in conjunction with the Hamnet Facebook site, has developed a following across South Africa as well as members of SAWS as they interact with us on Facebook! Yet, they come up with all sorts of excuses not to allow us access to the Radar sites.

It has now been decided that as we are getting nowhere with SAWS, we are going to develop a system on Facebook, Twitter and the all our already developed sites whereby we aim to become a more effective way of not necessarily forecasting weather, but to develop a more efficient ‘real time’ reporting system which SAWS do not offer.

The benefit is that we will, via all our national observers, be able to track developing storms and report very accurately on Twitter, Facebook, SAWDOS and the Hamnet sites what is happening weather wise around our country. This information can be shared, pictures can be taken and posted on our various sites and we will be in a good position to warn towns and regions of developing storms.

This system works fabulously well in the USA where severe storms are almost an everyday occurrence. We did in fact approach SAWS for a closer working relationship with this project in mind but as I said, they did not even bother to reply to us.

So, now we are going to do it on our own and over the next few weeks develop a ‘real time’ reporting system, to try and match the successful USA modules for the benefit of all of us.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.

Important Notice: SAWDOS

IMPORTANT: The S.A. Weather and Disaster Observation Service provides a weather and disaster observation (Weather and Disaster Watching/Spotting) service  in South Africa and not a weather prediction or disaster management service. Do not use the information on this web-page to predict weather or disasters.

The SAWDOS is not responsible for, nor do we endorse the opinions, accuracy, or comments of re-posted articles from other sites, unless specifically so indicated in our post. Often we may refer to articles which are diametrically opposed to our vision and mission, in order to provoke additional thought and further education.

Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay

"SAWDOS - A SERVICE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE"

Important Notice: SAWDOS

IMPORTANT: The S.A. Weather and Disaster Observation Service provides a weather and disaster observation (Weather and Disaster Watching/Spotting) service  in South Africa and not a weather prediction or disaster management service. Do not use the information on this web-page to predict weather or disasters.

The SAWDOS is not responsible for, nor do we endorse the opinions, accuracy, or comments of re-posted articles from other sites, unless specifically so indicated in our post. Often we may refer to articles which are diametrically opposed to our vision and mission, in order to provoke additional thought and further education.

Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay

"SAWDOS - A SERVICE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE"

SAWDOS: THANKS AND APPRECIATION!!

The SAWDOS would like to thank all the members of public, private sector, radio amateurs, the media and real time observers who send photos, information and reports about the heavy rain and floods in Mpumalanga, Kwazulu Natal and Limpopo Provinces this past weekend. With the information received we kept the public informed.

The SAWDOS were inundated with information via Email, SMS, Facebook and Twitter and thereby receiving first hand information as the situation unfolded. This severe weather event demonstrated the fact that when disaster strike South Africans all come together to assist wherever they can.

SAWD0S is really overwhelmed by the response that it received. This response make it all the worth while to spend hours on end informing and posting information and images on the SAWDOS Blog, SAWDOS Facebook Group and SAWDOS Twitter. Once again thank you for the support and service. The SAWDOS is looking forward to your continued support. With your help we can render a free service to the public and hopefully contribute to save and better the lives of those in need.

Once again a big thank you to all!!

Finally the SAWDOS would hereby like to express it's condolences and sympathy to all those families and friends who lost loved one's as a result of the severe weather this past weekend.


Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay
22 January 2013