Shannon June Kittlitz
Friday 19th September, 2008
This is NOT a drill. No workshop agenda. No pre-planned programming. On Saturday 6 September the FIRST Response team began interviewing survivors of the Bihar floods. When the team walked into the train station of the Bihar state capital city, they were amazed by the number of people who had fled the flooding and were sleeping at the station. The team travelled by train to another district where they listened to heart-wrenching stories from the people in the relief camps and interviewed the District Surgeon (on camp health issues). The FIRST Response team is there as the voice of concern and hope.
Friday 19th September, 2008
This is NOT a drill. No workshop agenda. No pre-planned programming. On Saturday 6 September the FIRST Response team began interviewing survivors of the Bihar floods. When the team walked into the train station of the Bihar state capital city, they were amazed by the number of people who had fled the flooding and were sleeping at the station. The team travelled by train to another district where they listened to heart-wrenching stories from the people in the relief camps and interviewed the District Surgeon (on camp health issues). The FIRST Response team is there as the voice of concern and hope.
Listen to audio
On Sunday the FIRST Response producers used these interviews to develop special radio programmes and arranged to route them by internet to the transmitters for airing on short wave, replacing existing Feba programming for a daily 30-minute segment in the morning and again in the evening. By Tuesday 9 September, listeners were calling in to share their experiences, seek help and ask questions. Over 200 calls and SMS messages were received in the first 6 days to a local number. Programme producers report that many listeners calling in would hang up after the first ring, leaving a "Missed Call" and the team would call them back. One listener said two of his children had died in the flood. Before they evacuated they put the bodies up on the roof because they did not know what to do with them. He asked our announcer if anyone could be sent to help retrieve and bury the bodies. We have passed this request on to a non-government organisation (NGO) in the area. A text message asked if the Bihar government would help him find a new job after the floods, or should he leave and move to another state looking for work. Some complain of no food or relief reaching their area. FIRST Response producers record these calls and create programmes with answers coming from the government or NGOs. One of the FIRST Response producers says: "Our radio programmes became a lifeline for them because no TV channel or relief team could reach them. They are sharing their tears, their needs and their feelings with us and request to send anybody near them that their lives could be saved."
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