[HCDX] 50,000 radios to be sent to tsunami-hit areas

["Alokesh Gupta" <alokeshgupta@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

50,000 radios to be sent to tsunami-hit areas
--------------------------------------------
Date: 07-January-2005
Commercial Radio Australia is spearheading a mission to restore broadcast
operations in tsunami-hit countries, contributing some 50,000 AM/FM radio
sets to affected areas.
This initiative, which is being coordinated by the ABU, calls for the
donation of radio sets and broadcasting equipment to survivors and
broadcasters affected by the disaster, which has claimed almost 150,000
lives and left millions homeless.
Joan Warner, CRA's chief executive officer, said the first batch of 5,000
radio sets would be shipped to Indonesia in a week's time, with the rest to
be despatched to affected areas over the next four to five weeks.
"We also have up to six transmitters that we can donate," she said.
Ms Warner also said CRA would send at least 12 engineers to rebuild
broadcasting facilities in disaster zones. The engineers will be sent in
groups of four for a few weeks at a time.
CRA is an industry body representing Australia's commercial radio
broadcasters.
France's Eutelsat SA, an ABU affiliate member, will allow free usage of its
fixed satellite services (FSS) in affected areas.
A representative, Jan Grondrup-Vivanco, said this would enable Internet
access and Voice over Internet Protocol telephony be set up in these places.
Meanwhile, Singapore's MediaCorp has promised to look into the needs of
Radio Television Maldives (RTVM) which lost much of its equipment when the
tsunami struck.
(07-January-2005)
----------------------------------

ABU appeal to aid disaster-hit broadcasters draws North American offers

Date: 07-January-2005
Offers of assistance to provide battery-operated radio sets and restore
broadcast operations in countries hit by the December 26 earthquake and
tsunami, in response to an appeal by the ABU, are coming from as far away as
North America.
The owner of a network of radio stations in Canada's Yukon Territory is
pledging broadcast equipment and expertise for affected broadcasters.
A representative of Burr and Burton Academy, a secondary school in Vermont,
USA, has said its staff will begin collecting AM/FM radio sets for survivors
of the disaster.
Meanwhile, a radio engineer from California, USA, said he is willing to
travel to affected areas at his own expense in order to help build and
maintain radio stations there.
(07-January-2005)
----------------------------------------------------

Relief operations continue in Sri Lanka

Date: 07-January-2005
Sri Lankan Sinhala and Tamil TV and radio channels, Sirasa TV/FM and Shakthi
TV/FM, launched Sirasa-Shakthi Sahana Yaathra on 28 December, to enable the
public to aid victims of the tsunami disaster.
Sirasa-Shakthi Sahana Yaathra sent a convoy packed with relief items to
affected areas in the south, north and east of Sri Lanka. Volunteer doctors,
nurses, school children and foreigners also joined the effort.
Another operation began in Colombo on 30 December to provide medical
assistance to survivors in southern and eastern Sri Lanka.
Sirasa TV/FM said contributions and support were continuing to pour in to
the main collection centre in Colombo and other regional offices around the
island.
(07-January-2005)
--------------------------------------------------

Radio Netherlands to set up radio stations in Aceh

Date: 06-January-2005
Radio Netherlands is starting a programme to set up a number of emergency
radio stations in Banda Aceh, capital of Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh
province.
The station will appeal to its 6,000 partner stations around the world to
collect money and equipment for the programme.
Radio Netherlands Media Network reported that the emergency radio stations
will in due course be built up into permanent stations.
One of the stations that was destroyed by the tsunami on 26 December is
Radio Nikoya FM, that used to broadcast news in Indonesian from Radio
Netherlands on a daily basis.
The head of the Indonesian department of Radio Netherlands, Indra Titus,
said: "We want to help to get the radio stations back on the air, because
radio is a very important means of communication in the stricken areas.
"As help is beginning to flow, communications must be restored to help the
search for family members and make information accessible. Even under normal
circumstances, radio in Indonesia is a vital means of communication that
people cannot be without."
(06-January-2005)
-----------------------------------------------------

34 staff of TVRI and RRI-Indonesia missing

Date: 04-January-2005
Indonesia's public broadcasters, Televisi Republik Indonesia and Radio
Republik Indonesia, say 34 members of their staff are missing in Aceh
province, devastated by the tsunami on 26 December.
A senior official of RRI said 24 staff were missing, while TVRI reported 10
staff missing and feared dead.
Aceh province was the area worst hit in Asia's tsunami disaster, with more
than 90,000 people killed.
About 100 TVRI families lost their homes or were badly affected, and both
TVRI and RRI reported severe damage to transmitters and other equipment.
About 2,000 people who lost their homes have taken refuge in a park in the
TVRI complex in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, where TVRI staff are
helping care for them.
Meanwhile, India's public broadcaster, Doordarshan, has reported no
casualties among its staff but severe damage to several TV transmitters on
Car Nicobar, the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
Twelve of the 15 villages on the island were reported to have been
flattened.
(04-January-2005)
--------------------------------------------------------
SLRC-Sri Lanka mounts big relief operation

Date: 04-January-2005
Sri Lanka's public broadcaster, SLRC, has mounted a major relief operation
for victims of the tsunami that struck the island on 26 December, killing
more than 30,000 people.
After on-air appeals brought in big donations, SLRC sent more than 200 lorry
loads of food, clothing and medicine to badly hit areas in the island's
north, east and south in less than 72 hours. It also sent medical teams to
many affected areas.
 "A large number of volunteers from all walks of life worked round the clock
with the staff of the SLRC to make this possible," its Director-General,
Nishanta Ranatunga, said.
Among those who died was an SLRC member of staff who was among more than
1,000 people killed when the tsunami struck a train near the southern city
of Galle.
An SLRC outside broadcast crew in the nearby town of Matara were luckier.
Covering an unrelated story, they were trapped in their hotel when the
tsunami struck but were later rescued and were able to cover the tragedy.
(04-January-2005)

(Source : ABU Weekly News Digest Week ended January 7, 2004)


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