There are many reasons. Areas hit with wide-spread disasters have no functioning infrastructure. Radios are a quick and easy way to put an infrastructure into place. The 2 meter band is not susceptible to solar cycles, and it's cheap to make a radio operate in these bands; you can buy one for $20 on Amazon. Reliable spectrum + cheap radios + simple licensing procedures means you have thousands of unpaid volunteers with the technical know-how and equipment to set up a rather complex and efficient emergency communications network in a very short amount of time.
In other words, your smartphone isn't going to work, thus IRC isn't going to work. Even in areas hit by simple things such as power outages. Or events that take place over a wide geographic area with little to no cell service (think automobile rallies, marathons, biking events, etc). All these need reliable, inexpensive communications, and people to run them.
Next time you're stuck in an area hit by a natural disaster, and you've made it out alive, there's a significant chance amateur radio played a part in that.
> Next time you're stuck in an area hit by a natural disaster, and you've made it out alive, there's a significant chance amateur radio played a part in that.
"Professional" radio is likely after the first 24-48 hours of a large scale disaster, but for large hurricanes and earthquakes, radio amateurs are almost always the first dedicated communicators on site before local police and EMS networks come back online and external agencies arrive. This is simply because they're already present, and that emergency communication is a major facet of the radio service and why it continues to exist today.
Even companies have one or more amateur radio stations on site and several licensed and experienced communicators, just in case. I've worked at 3 and I'm familiar with dozens.
In other words, your smartphone isn't going to work, thus IRC isn't going to work. Even in areas hit by simple things such as power outages. Or events that take place over a wide geographic area with little to no cell service (think automobile rallies, marathons, biking events, etc). All these need reliable, inexpensive communications, and people to run them.
Next time you're stuck in an area hit by a natural disaster, and you've made it out alive, there's a significant chance amateur radio played a part in that.