Extensive research into the use of media and access to communication technologies in Afghanistan can be visually explored through a useful mapping tool linked to the most comprehensive survey of media access in the country to date.

Created by media NGO, Internews, the interactive map displays results across each province by use of radio, television, mobile phone and internet, as well as segmented by gender and location.

Ten years ago the Southern England town of Lewes suffered devastating flooding causing residents and local authorities to consider how best to protect the area in the future. This experience makes it ideally suited for a UK disaster response workshop and broadcast field trial led by FIRST Response, a network of radio broadcasters, NGOs and government partners committed to providing critical information after a disaster.

Using the scene of the local disaster as its backdrop, FIRST Response will be training UK partners in how to use radio to respond to disasters, culminating in the setting up of an „emergency radio station‟ which will broadcast to the people of Lewes on 3rd and 4th December. The workshop combines background knowledge about radio with the unique environment experienced in disaster relief work and involves the expertise of local government officials. Once trained, the staff will then transfer their skills internationally and help set up new teams in various disaster-prone parts of the world, ready to jump into action the moment disaster strikes.

For several years in Asia, FIRST Response has been leading the way in the use of radio for disaster response as they have found that besides the need for food, shelter and safety, one of the greatest needs is information. Tsunami survivor Pavita remembers this well:

“I didn‟t want to see another cooking pot – I had as many as I would ever need. I wanted to know where my family was going to be living in a month‟s time!”

Three weeks after the 2004 Asian tsunami there was only one thing she wanted: hard facts about her future. Since then FIRST Response has worked with broadcasters in Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to develop a project which comprises the needed equipment (including a suitcase studio), a programming system based on the listeners need for critical information and a workshop to teach radio journalists, relief workers and government personnel how to put these into use in the field.

Today we were working at Heartline, a small community radio station serving the community of Tulikup on Bali, the second most populated island in the Republic of Indonesia.  The station is having a positive impact on the health and social needs of the community with its effective communication strategy for health and social development.  

http://www.heartline.co.id/

Ambacang hotel Padang. Pic: Toby Zerna. Courtesy AAP

As the scale of Wendesday’s earthquake in West Sumatra unfolds, a small team from FEBC, already in Indonesia for a FIRST Response trial and workshop, is heading to Padang to set up an emergency radio response.  FIRST Response is a ministry of FEB Radio International designed to set up an emergency radio station within 72 hours of a disaster.  Studies show that following a disaster, where communications infrastructure is often destroyed, radio can save lives, providing essential information and life-saving messages.  Feba deployed a FIRST Response team to Bihar, North India, during the widespread floods there in October 2008.