Global Issues

Humanitarian Media

Journalist Sumeera Awan interviews an earthquake victim in northern Pakistan for Internews' radio program of post-earthquake humanitarian information. Photo: Mark Edwards/Still Pictures/Internews

When disaster strikes a community, timely and accurate information is as essential as food, shelter, sanitation, and security. Local media can play a vital role in ensuring the effective delivery of life-saving assistance. Even more importantly, local media can keep affected populations informed and facilitate their involvement in their own recovery.

Internews enables local media to provide essential information during humanitarian disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and refugee crises. Internews sets up radio stations where none exist, provides essential equipment to damaged stations, trains local journalists and airs important news of relief and reconstruction to the affected populations.

Post-Tsunami Media Reconstruction

Aceh, Indonesia

In the Indonesian province of Aceh, the December 2004 Asian tsunami destroyed the existing media infrastructure and killed and injured many journalists.

Internews, which had already been work- ing with journalists in Aceh for six years, responded to the crisis by flying in a radio team and two radio transmitters (“suitcase radio stations”) to the remote province. Within two weeks of the tsunami, the only radio station back on the air, Suara Aceh (Voice of Aceh), was set up with a suitcase radio station that allowed them to extend their coverage beyond Banda Aceh.

Using a team of Acehnese and Javanese journalists, Internews produced the popular daily radio program Peuneugah Aceh (News from Aceh) from a studio Internews built in Banda Aceh. The program broadcast news of reconstruction to an estimated audience of one million people through September 2006.

Peuneugah Aceh was distributed via satellite to digital radio receivers placed at 31 Aceh radio stations and 200 Inter- nally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. The stations relayed the program or taped and rebroadcast it.

Internews’ reconstruction work in Aceh was made possible by grants from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the British Department for International Development (DFID), and the Dutch NGO HIVOS.

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, Internews responded to the need to support and rebuild local media af- ter the December 2004 tsunami by setting up mobile radio production units in tsu- nami-affected areas. For six months these units produced a daily 40-minute radio program, in both Tamil and Sinhalese, that told the story of the reconstruction through the voices of those affected.

The production units produced stories on housing and reconstruction, health, rebuilding small businesses, and youth and education. The journalists received training in how to produce and package field-based reports — a ground-breaking format in Sri Lankan radio — and worked with govern- ment agencies, humanitarian relief services and local community groups to provide information to refugees.

In 2006, Internews expanded on this work to foster media development in Sri Lanka by providing additional training and production support to broadcast journalists from the regions and by developing media resource centers in the south and the east of the country.

Internews’ work in Sri Lanka is funded by USAID.

Post-Earthquake Information

Indonesia

The May 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia took over 5,000 lives and left close to 40,000 people injured and some 1.6 million homeless. The quake, in this heavily-populated region, destroyed more than 300,000 homes.

Virtually all of the community radio stations in the quake regions were deeply affected by the disaster, and many went off the air due to structural and equipment damage, or had diminished workforces due to staff injuries and displacement.

Most of these community radio stations are back on the air now, many because of equipment support that Internews provided. Internews is facilitating the participation of the community radio sector in ensuring that reports from the disaster zones are broadcast back to the entire displaced population.

Meanwhile, with support from Internews, the Indonesian Press and Broadcast Society set up an emergency AM radio station, Radio Punokawan, to provide urgent aid and safety information.

Internews’ work in Yogyakarta and Central Java is funded by USAID and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Pakistan

Within three weeks of the devastating October 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan, Internews began producing Jazba A Tameer (The Desire to Rebuild), a radio program that focused on providing humanitarian information for earthquake victims. This daily hour-long program, which ran through July 2006, was broadcast on seven emergency FM frequencies that cover much of the affected region, and, for the first two months after the quake, on 12 existing FM stations throughout the country.

The aim of the program was to empower local people by informing them on matters relevant to their survival and eventual rehabilitation in the post-disaster zone.

The Jazba A Tameer team consisted of a dozen radio producers from the North West Frontier Province, Punjab, and Islamabad. These journalists received extensive training from Internews over the previous two and a half years in field reporting and radio production. Internews also recruited and trained local university graduates in humanitarian reporting.

With logistical help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Internews distributed 10,000 multi-power radio sets to quake survivors to keep them informed on issues affecting them. The radio sets can run on hand-crank, solar, battery, and direct current electrical power.

Internews’ post-earthquake work in Pakistan was funded by DFID, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

Humanitarian News for Refugees

Chad

From a 20-foot cargo container perched on cinderblocks in the middle of a frontier town in Chad, Radio Absoun is making a difference in the lives of Darfuri refugees who have fled to eastern Chad, as well as the needs of the local Chadian population.

Photo: Mark Frohardt/Internews Refugees in eastern Chad.

Established by Internews in conjunction with its local partner, the Association pour le Développement des Médias Communautaires, the radio station broadcasts a mixture of news, information and music for six hours every day.

The result is that, for the first time, refugees can hear reports that directly affect their survival including information on security, food rations, and water distribution; where to get health and immunization services; and what is going on in their home areas. They can also listen to social and educational programs, especially those dealing with violence against women and domestic abuse.

The radio station also serves as a bridge between the refugees and the Chadians who have welcomed them, but now face intense competition for limited resources.

Radio Absoun’s staff includes Chadians and Sudanese refugees who produce their programs in Arabic, French, and Zaghawa.

Radio Absoun is one of three community radio stations Internews has established along the Chad-Sudan border, including La Voix du Ouaddaï in Abéché, and a station in Goz Beida.

This project is made possible by grants to Internews from USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and UNHCR.

Links and Resources

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Radio for Peacebuilding Africa

World Disasters Report 2005