Dear Members,
The Community Radio Forum, India and its partner organizations propose to set up temporary radio stations in the flood affected areas of Bihar to assist the local administration and provide the flood affected people with vital information through radio broadcasts on the following key areas:
1. Critical Flood and Emergency Warnings: to alert people in advance of possible further threat(s) in order to help them take preventive measures and/or direct them to safer areas.
2. Missing Person alerts: Hundreds of families have been separated in the flood emergency, with an unknown number of people missing, especially children. Emergency radio stations can play an important role in identifying and reuniting these families.
3. Information on Relief Measures: including information on locations and time of relief material distribution, medical camps etc.
4. Health alerts: for evacuees / flood victims including epidemic warnings, medical safeguards and first aid, sanitation and hygiene information, location of medical camps etc.
5. Providing Accurate Information: Countering unconfirmed information and rumours that can trigger panic among an already disturbed population. It becomes vitally important to maintain the flow of authentic and reliable information.
We request members to :
Share their experiences and advice on setting up emergency radio stations to provide essential local information to the affected people in local language(s).
Provide radio scripts for broadcast.
Volunteer for local support to set up these emergency stations/ organizations that can work with us.
Recommend sources of authentic information for broadcast.
Responses received will help us quickly formulate an action plan and accelerate development of content broadcast over the emergency community radio stations.
Sajan Venniyoor
venniyoor@gmail.com
Community Radio Forum
New Delhi