UNISDR
Staying on air to stay alert
The earthquake rumbles and the sounds of a siren echo. A moment later an assertive voice says, “Come on everybody! This way! This way! Run here! This place is safer; it’s 10 meters higher and won’t slide! Just leave your car! Get down! Don’t stand under the pole, come here, this way!”
Then comes the narrator’s voice: “Remember, our preparedness to respond to disaster can reduce casualties. This public service announcement is presented by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Indonesian Red Cross and Irish Red Cross.”
This 57-second public service announcement has been airing in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh and its surroundings via a station called Rumoh PMI Radio.
Seven public service announcements about the work of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) have been broadcast consecutively. They contain various information about the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, health and disasters, all designed harmoniously with the culture of the land of Nanggroe, the alternative name for the province of Aceh.
The choice of radio broadcasting as the media to convey messages was not unintentional. The people of Aceh are very familiar with radio broadcasting, given that it is easily accessible and in tune with people’s sense for entertainment. Thus, radio broadcasting was considered as a quick and cheap media messenger with a wide coverage.
With this concept in mind, PMI pioneered a radio program together with the Irish Red Cross in 2006 and named it Rumoh PMI Radio – meaning “PMI house”, in the sense of a common home. It was a means of spreading information during the rehabilitation and reconstruction period in Aceh, which was hit hard by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004.
Beneficiaries and donors, either from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement or other organizations operating in Aceh, were brought together in a talk show on the station. With an audience segment of family members in the range of 18 to 45 years old, Rumoh PMI Radio was a perfect media to discuss current social issues. The Friday talk show, which aired weekly from 17.00 to 18.00, was a program designed specially to perpetuate such discussion, which has now become the identity of this station. Recent social issues, fresh and trending, were discussed interactively with relevant resource persons.
What started with only six PMI volunteers as broadcasters has grown into a team of 10 permanent broadcasters and 15 management staff. The radio transmission was strengthened and the coverage was broadened. It Rumoh PMI Radio has a radius of 30 kilometres and a network with 40 community and private radio stations in Aceh and the neighbouring island of Nias.
Despite being officially established as a commercial media and a PMI business unit, Rumoh PMI Radio has not abandoned its Red Cross mission.
“We still allocate 30 percent of air time for PMI program and activities public outreach, whether in the form of public service announcements, talk shows or offline events,” said Andri Irvan, the station manager.
“Several months ago, we conducted blood donation as an offline event and found that many youngsters were actually enthusiastic to donate their blood, but they just didn’t know how to do it and where to go. Thus, we plan to do this blood donation program regularly in the future. We will be encouraging people to donate blood as well as promoting the radio at the same time,” he added.
Another example of public outreach is a program encouraged by PMI Aceh. Two talk shows were aired over two months to support the program. By listening to an explanation directly from the Red Cross resource person and community-based action team member of Alu Daya Tuengoh village, the people were educated to start disaster preparedness by the closest community, the villagers themselves.
Aceh’s disaster management agency, the Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Aceh (BPBA) has made Rumoh PMI Radio its official partner. The station iss expected to remain a pioneer in promoting efforts to improve disaster preparedness and management in Aceh, as well as to become the main information resource during emergency response.
“The coverage of Rumoh PMI Radio was one of the reasons why BPBA partnered up with the radio station,” said Nursafri, the station’s news and music director. Rumoh PMI Radio’s broadcasts reaches the whole area of Banda Aceh, and parts of Aceh Besar, Pidie and Sabang.
Regardless of its function as an entertainment media for the people of Aceh, Rumoh PMI Radio remains faithful to the spirit of humanity that is has had from the start, and will remain on air to keep people alert.
This post was submitted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to which we extend our thanks.