Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference

The Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference or GAREC was a conference held annually from 2005–2014 by the International Amateur Radio Union for discussion of amateur radio operation during natural disasters and other emergencies with the motto, "Saving lives through emergency communications".^[1] GAREC was first held in Tampere, Finland in 2005, coinciding with the adoption of the Tampere Convention, a globally binding emergency communications treaty that had been signed in Tampere in 1998.^[2] In later conferences, the venue has attempted to rotate in sequence through ITU Regions 1, 2 and 3 (though not necessarily in that order).

The GAREC logo.

Subsequent conferences

Year	Location	Dates	Notes
GAREC-2006	Tampere, Finland (IARU Region 1)	19–20 June	Held in conjunction with the International Conference on Emergency Communications, ICEC-2006, which reviewed the status of implementation and application of the Tampere Convention.
GAREC-2007	Huntsville, Alabama (IARU Region 2)	16–17 August	Held in conjunction with the Huntsville Hamfest and the ARRL's yearly convention.[3]
GAREC-2008	Friedrichshafen, Germany (IARU Region 1)	26–27 June	Held in conjunction with the 33rd annual HamRadio exhibition.[4][5]
GAREC-2009	Tokyo, Japan (IARU Region 3)	24–25 August	Theme: "Emergency Communications across Borders". Held in conjunction with the Japan Amateur Radio League's JARL Ham Fair.[6][7][8]
GAREC-2010	Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles (IARU Region 2)	11–12 October	Theme: "Learning through Practicing"[9][10]
GAREC-2011	Sun City, South Africa (IARU Region 1)	15–19 August	Theme: "Building Partnerships". Held as part of the IARU Region 1 Conference.[11]
GAREC-2012	Port Dickson, Malaysia (IARU Region 3)	11–15 November	Also known as "MyGAREC 2012"[12]
GAREC-2013	Zurich, Switzerland (IARU Region 1)	25–28 June	Held in conjunction with the HAM RADIO exhibition in Friedrichshafen.[1][13][14]
GAREC-2014	Huntsville, Alabama (IARU Region 2)	14–15 August	Held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Huntsville Alabama, United States 35801.[15][16]
GAREC-2015	Tampere, Finland (IARU Region 1)	23–24 June	Event was cancelled in April 2015

It seems 2014 was the last conference held successfully.