Post-Tsunami Information on the Air in Indonesia

This article announces that the Internews Emergency Radio Program Peuneugah Aceh, "News from Aceh," went on air March 7, 2005. Transmitted

through First Voice International (FVI) Satellite Network Services, this daily broadcast is transmitted widely and to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps throughout Aceh as well. The article describes the BBC World Service as reporting that the hundreds of thousands of displaced people have food, water and shelter, but "they are desperate for information."

"News from Aceh" is described in the article as helping provide news, talk shows and features specific to the rebuilding of Aceh. Wayne Sharpe, Country Director for Internews Indonesia, describes the Emergency Broadcasting project as having two goals: getting vital information to the people of Aceh and assisting the local journalism community. He also describes the project as helping journalists rebuild their lives. For those radio stations that have managed to get back on the air, the article describes them as "broadcasting with depleted and traumatized staffs" and mostly playing music because "they are not ready to provide emergency reports themselves."

The article describes media outlets as either destroyed or severely damaged by the tsunami and that inspite of Aceh’s daily newspaper and several radio stations being back on the air "the vast majority of the province is not aware of what help is available from their government...-...and are uncertain about what programs are in motion to give them back their normal lives and livelihoods."

The article states that 23 stations throughout Aceh have signed on to rebroadcast the programme and that it will expand from one hour per day to two hours by April, and will run for six months while the radio community rebuilds. Internews is also coordinating the efforts of several international development organisations which are distributing small battery-operated and wind-up radios to people in the camps so that they can hear the programmes.

The Emergency Broadcasting Service is being funded by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the UK Department for International Development, and the International Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries.