January 12 2005

This article examines the ways in which various types of media have been used to share information following an emergency that led to the destruction of most existing media outlets - the December 2004 tsunami disaster in South East Asia. It focuses on the work of Internews, an organisation whose members currently work in 47 countries worldwide to improve access to information by fostering independent media and promoting open communications policies.

According to this article, Internews responded to the tsunamis by providing a radio station in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh with a suitcase radio transmitter and computer equipment. "Suara Aceh" (Voice of Aceh) thereby became an emergency radio station through its broadcasts of emergency health and relief aid information. This article indicates that Internews plans to install a second suitcase radio station in Meulaboh and to set up small radio stations in the International Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Aceh to help provide urgent information to the more than 400,000 people who may be living there for the next few years. Inexpensive radio transistor sets, purchased by Internews, are being donated to the camps' inhabitants.

In addition, this article notes that Internews staff members are helping build an emergency media centre in Aceh. A team is meeting with radio, print, and television journalists from local media outlets and with the local branch of the new broadcasting commission to devise short- and long-term needs for reconstructing the media there.

Internews is also drawing on the printed medium to help Aceh exchange information in the aftermath of this crisis. Each day, the Aceh newspaper Serambi is producing an 8-page emergency edition with the help of a team of journalists; this information will also be provided to the radio station "Suara Aceh".