NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - Before this year's floods, Pakistan's air waves were filled with music, dramas, talk shows and cookery programs, but media workers say the devastating disaster is slowly transforming radio broadcasts that are now dedicating time to life-saving humanitarian aid information.
The July/August floods, which hit over 20 million people in the biggest humanitarian emergency in recent years, have submerged swathes of agricultural land and destroyed thousands of homes and scores of villages from the far north to the deep south.
While basic relief such as food, water, shelter and medical assistance is being provided to the millions uprooted by the floods, Pakistan's radio stations are now recognising that information is an equally essential form of aid.
"The radio stations, which we partner with, broadcast programs on everything from how flood-hit communities can register for aid, to how to ensure children are properly nourished, to how to prevent dengue fever," said Kate Gunn, resident advisor with Internews, an international media development charity.
"The feedback which we have got has been very promising and comments suggest that people value the information and see it as life-saving."
Experts say, often after a major disaster, the international media is there to provide news and information to the outside world, reporting mainly on the plight of survivors and the need for foreign donors to provide aid.
Communities hit by the crisis are the ones who need the information the most, but they are often the last to receive it -- mainly because they are in remote areas and cut off due to blocked roads, collapsed bridges with power and telephone lines down.
RADIO REACH
In recent years, humanitarian and media organisations have begun to recognise the need to address this information gap and aid workers now say it essential to provide easy to understand, practical tips which will help people help themselves.
In disaster-prone Pakistan, experts say radio usage is high in towns and cities but even more so in rural areas and it is seen as the best way to reach communities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
Radios are cheap, portable and can be run on batteries whereas televisions, mobile phones, newspapers and the internet are not as effective because often power lines are down or people cannot afford such services.
Community radio played a vital role in providing information to survivors of the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, which killed more than 73,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless.
But now, as a result of the floods, many FM radio stations -- most of which are more accustomed to broadcasting entertainment -- are either having their own journalists trained to produce humanitarian news by organisations like Internews or are re-broadcasting programs produced by the BBC World Service Trust.
"The local radio stations gained massive audiences in the first month after the floods and see it as a sense of responsibility to their country and they want to be producing some kind of broadcast that is valuable," said Colin Spurway, BBC World Service Trust's senior project manager for Asia.
"They also want the audience, so they can sell the advertising round it, so they really appreciate the partnership with the BBC or Internews.
Through Internews' project, hundreds of radio journalists have learnt how the aid sector operates as well as how to produce programs which are currently being broadcast on four FM stations in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, reaching up to seven million people in their local language of Pashtun.
The BBC World Service Trust's "Lifeline Pakistan" initiative is not only producing and broadcasting programs through its own World Service station on AM and MW radio - it is also providing these programs to 36 FM stations across the country -- reaching more than ten million in both Urdu and Pashtun.
SOAP AND DIARRHOEA
The programs -- broadcast several times a day at allotted times -- cover topics which aid workers, authorities think people should know -- but also try to answer questions which disaster-hit communities want to know.
Topics include how to avoid gastroenteritis, how to make a oral rehydration salts to treat diarrhoea, basic hygiene and sanitation advice such as washing regularly to prevent skin infections and other diseases, and keeping sleeping and cooking areas separate from toilets.
Due to the chaos and confusion in the aftermath of a disaster, the bulletins aim to dispel mixed messages and rumours and provide accurate, actionable information from humanitarian experts working in the emergency.
Journalists glean information from a variety of sources -- including meetings held by the United Nations, aid agencies and officials -- where they find out what the priority message should be at the time.
For example, if there appears to be a lot of eye infections occurring -- a program focusing on what an eye infection is, how do you get it, how to treat and how to avoid it -- may be made.
Or as displaced people start to return to their villages to find their homes damaged, there may be a program on how to make your home safe to live in until you can properly rebuild.
Aid workers emphasise that this communication is two-way and people can phone into the station and leave messages, concerns and questions about their situation which are broadcast, answered by experts and are then fed back to authorities and aid workers to follow-up.
"We hope we have changed the way of thinking of FM radio stations, and I think they know what kind of information people need at a time of distress and they are becoming much more sensitised towards humanitarian issues," said Shafi Naqi Jamie, project manager and editor of Lifeline Pakistan.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
