“Alpha 1 calling Lima 2, over.”
“Roger, this is Lima 2, go ahead Alpha 1.”
“Earthquake monitored 30 km off Indian Ocean, please
prepare for possible aftershocks, over.”
Twelve-year old Rahmi Amalia gazes admiringly at the impressive
mass of radio equipment. This equipment, she knows, can help
protect people from disaster. Her mother says. “It can
detect tsunami before it strikes, so that people can run and,
we hope, no one will die.”
The radio base station is part of the early warning system that
is being built by the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia-PMI)
here in Aceh, the region that bore the biggest brunt of the
December 2004 tsunami.
Rahmi shudders as she recalls how her family and hundreds of
others scampered for safety as the monstrous waves swamped their
village, sweeping away people and homes, as well as her most
treasured possession, her piano.
“If only this early warning system had been here before
that tsunami came, I would still be playing my piano,”
says Rahmi, feeling the hurt once more.
Rahmi is among the crowd on had to witness the launch of the
early warning system. Having won last year’s Red Cross
singing competition (PMIdol), she was invited to perform her
winning song at the event.
The base station installed at the PMI chapter in Banda Aceh,
is part of the over-all Red Cross Red Crescent disaster preparedness
programme. The early warning system is being spearheaded by
PMI with support from the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies, and the Spanish, Canadian and Australian
Red Cross Societies.
The radio network will be linked with PMI headquarters in Jakarta,
which receives information directly from the Indonesian Government’s
disaster monitoring agencies.
The base station will be followed by the installation of 22
other base stations and 10 repeaters throughout Aceh province
covering the districts of Banda Aceh, Aceh Tengah, Aceh Tenggara,
Aceh Utara, Aceh Timur, Aceh Barat, Aceh Selatan, Gayo Lues,
Aceh Singkil, Nias Island and Simeuleu Island.
“This is a big step toward the capacity-building of PMI,”
says Pak Marie Muhammad, chairman of PMI. “Now we can
do more to save lives the next time a disaster strikes.”
The Red Cross/Red Crescent is also distributing 300 radio handsets
and will have 10 vehicles fully equipped with both Very High
Frequency (VHF) and High Frequency (HF) radios to help build
up the disaster response capacity of 22 PMI branches. PMI has
already trained 80 staff and volunteer radio operators, who
will echo the same training to their respective communities.
Twenty-five year old Darti Firdian, a senior high school teacher
and one of the volunteer participants, is impressed by her newly
acquired skills.
“This is a very useful piece of equipment. I will also
teach my students on how to use this, so that they too can help
save lives,” she says.
Edo, a PMI radio technician and trainer, stresses the importance
of community awareness, alertness and participation, “The
radios are only tools. It is the people themselves who can spell
the difference between life and death.”
“The key factor to reducing risks due to disasters is
to get the right information to the people at the right time,”
he emphasizes. “This is where we need the radio network.”
Edo says VHF and HF radios are the most handy, practical and
reliable equipment that can receive and transmit information
and warnings, especially in times of disasters.
Also a member of the Amateur Radio International, a group that
immediately informed Jakarta officials about the December 2004
tsunami, Edo says that if PMI staff and volunteers had been
trained and equipped with radio in 2004, then more people could
have been warned and more lives could have been saved.
Once the early warning system is completed PMI will conduct
a large-scale simulation exercise in Banda Aceh involving partner
national Red Cross/Red Crescent societies, the government and
other humanitarian aid organizations.
Along with the community training and installation of early
warning equipment, Red Cross Red Crescent is also disseminating
public service announcements on radio, and distributing various
information materials on disaster awareness and preparedness
in schools, villages, offices and other public places, and has
produced a cartoon show on disaster awareness, which does the
rounds of various villages every night, to the delight of both
children and adults.
At the PMI chapter where the launching of the early warning
system continues, Rahmi takes the centre stage and sings her
winning song about new hope and new life. As the crowd applauds,
she glances again at the radio equipment, a landmark of the
new Aceh, and a bringer of hope.
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Twelve-year
old Rahmi, tries her hand on the radio equipment which
can warn the people on the oncoming disaster. Rahmi is
among the crowd on had to witness the launch of the early
warning system. Having won last year’s Red Cross
singing competition (PMIdol), she was invited to perform
her winning song at the event. (p14617)
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The
Indonesia Red Cross (PMI) has already trained 80 staff
and volunteer radio operators, who will echo the same
training to their respective communities. (p14616)
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David
Kola, International Federation IT delegate, helps Indonesia
Red Cross (PMI) install VHF and HF radio base station
at the PMI chapter as part of the early warning system
in the tsunami-stricken province of Aceh. (p14618)
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“This
is a big step toward the capacity-building of PMI,”
says Pak Marie Muhammad, chairman of PMI. “Now we
can do more to save lives the next time a disaster strikes.”
(p14619)
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