Role of frequency modulation radio in disaster communication: A case study of Pakistan earthquake

Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Role of frequency modulation radio in disaster communication: A case study of Pakistan earthquake
 
Creator Rahman, Syed I. Sial, Nauman Moazzam, Saniya
 
Subject Media Studies; Communication; Sociology; History Pakistan earthquake; disaster communication; FM radio; community media; social responsibility
Description Pakistan suffered from a massive earthquake in October 2005 that caused the deaths of more than 87 000 people. As a result of this calamity, around 3.5 million affected people had no access to information. In these scenarios, community media became an important catalyst. In developing countries, radio had proved far more accessible and useful than any other medium. But because of this natural hazard, local media also suffered heavily as dozens of journalists died and media houses and press clubs were destroyed. The current study attempted to explore the role of frequency modulation (FM) radio stations working in the earthquake hit areas in Pakistan. These stations were temporarily setup to inform the victims about the rehabilitation and reconstruction plans of the agencies involved. The data has been collected qualitatively through five focus group discussions which were conducted in the earthquake affected areas. Twelve in-depth interviews were also conducted for this purpose with FM stations personnel. The results revealed that the FM radio stations played a very important role in the rehabilitation phase by providing vital information to the victims, relief agencies and government. Lifesaving information like weather updates, precautionary measures in the tents, public service announcements and encouraging messages provided some hope to the victims to restart a normal life, and also motivated the students to restart their studies in makeshift schools.These FM networks became the voice of the affected people and helped a lot in bridging the communication gaps between the affected, relief agencies and government, and also ensured citizens’ participation in decision-making processes.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2021-11-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jamba.v13i1.1047
 
Source Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies; Vol 13, No 1 (2021); 9 pages 1996-1421 2072-845X
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1047/2162 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1047/2163 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1047/2164 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1047/2165
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Syed I. Rahman, Nauman Sial, Saniya Moazzam https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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