Broadcasters/Indonesia Country Report

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Earthquake-Damaged Radio Stations in Yogyakarta Helped with New Equipment

(July 24, 2006) On May 27, an earthquake off the coast of Yogyakarta Province, Central Java, Indonesia killed more than 5,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. On July 19, Internews made the first of a series of equipment donations to community radio stations in the disaster zone.

Soon after the earthquake, in order to get emergency relief and reconstruction information to those affected, Internews launched the Java Earthquake Emergency Media Project: Aiding Media Recovery and the Dissemination of Urgent Information to the Public, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development and the Hewlett Foundation.

The project takes a two-pronged approach – rebuilding the network of community radios that serves local audiences throughout the disaster zone and establishing an emergency AM radio broadcaster called Punokawan AM (Punokawan refers to a joker/advisor to the kings in ancient Yogyakarta folklore, a symbol of wisdom). Punokawan AM will broadcast on 1425 kHz with a power of 500 watts.

Calling on the volunteer journalists of the area’s community radio stations, Punokawan will broadcast essential information about health and hygiene, good rebuilding practices and techniques, and will invite experts to discuss ways in which those affected by the disaster can cope with this traumatic event in their lives.

The AM broadcaster was established by Internews with the assistance of partner groups Masyarakat Pers & Penyiaran Indonesia (MPPI- Indonesian Press and Broadcast Society) and the Jaringan Radio Komunitas, Community Radio Network (JRK) Jogjakarta.

MPPI is conducting basic journalism skills training with the community radio recruits in preparation for the launch of Punokawan AM.

Internews and partners have identified several community radios that were damaged and lost equipment to the quake. Internews has assisted the first two stations: Malioboro FM and Suara Kota FM. Malioboro was created in 2002 by street vendors and other merchants on Yogyakarta’s famous Malioboro Street – the station itself is located on the outskirts of Bantul, the worst hit area in the earthquake. The station needed a new broadcasting computer and portable tape recorders. Internews, accompanied by representatives of the JRK, delivered the equipment to the station.

Internews also delivered an editing computer and tape recorder to Suara Kota FM, a volunteer-run station that reaches roughly 4,000 listeners in their community. The station is located in Winongo, near the Yogya-Bantul main road. Suara Kota’s building was destroyed by the earthquake. The community worked together to rebuild the station, but not before heavy rains ruined their transmitter and other equipment. Suara Kota will also be receiving a new transmitter from Internews.

Internews and partners will be donating more equipment to several other community stations.

Punokawan AM’s signal will reach the entire affected region, plus the people living in the vicinity of Mount Merapi. The broadcasts will alert people in the Merapi area to any volcanic activity, to help avert another disaster in this region of Indonesia.

For More Information:

Wayne Sharpe, Internews Indonesia Country Director: wsharpeATinternews.org

Teddy Wahyu, Internews Yogyakarta Emergency Media Project Officer, 0816 4818 698 Email: tedwahyuATinternews.or.id

Radios for Indonesia 2006

(4 July 2006) Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) is making a thousand radios available to the victims of the earthquake in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, that happened on 27 May. Radio is - certainly in this situation - a very important source of information for the population. Yesterday the Dutch Ambassdor to Indonesia, Dr Nikolaos van Dam, handed over the first radios to three radio stations with which RNW cooperates. The three partner stations will distribute the radios among the local population.

Ambassador van Dam handed over the radios in place of former Deputy Minister for Culture and the Media, Medy van der Laan, who was forced to end her working visit to Indonesia early and return to the Netherlands following the withdrawal of her party, D66, from the Cabinet. The Ambassador referred in his speech to the importance of the media in disaster areas. He said that the emergency aid for Yogyakarta, to which the Netherlands is making a substantial contribution, is arriving at great pace. Survivers are trying to rebuild their lives. It’s clear that access to news and information is important to them.

Using the radios, people in Yogyakarta and the surrounding area can listen directly to the Indonesian-language shortwave transmissions of RNW. But RNW Director-General Jan Hoek adds that “moreover, many of our Indonesian programmes are rebroadcast by the partner stations, so they can listen to us in FM quality.” The three partner stations serve a combined total of around 1 million families. The aim is that in most villages in the area around Yogyakarta, at least one radio will be made available.

Aceh

After the tsunami in Aceh (December 2004), RNW sent mobile radio stations to partner stations in Banda Aceh, Meulaboh and Sigli. This meant that the three partners, whose facilities were completely destroyed by the tsunami, were able to resume their transmissions rapidly. “Radio Netherlands Worldwide spreads independent information to help pluriformity and access to a free press. We don’t just do it through journalistic content, but also through practical help using our technical and distribution resources. We are glad that we can help Yogyakarta and Aceh in this way”, says Jan Hoek.

HCJB World Radio responds to Indonesia quake

(6 June 2006) HCJB World Radio is gearing up to send a relief team from Ecuador to Indonesia to join local partners in helping survivors of the earthquake. "We have decided to go ahead with the decision to move forward with a medical team from Ecuador with support on the ground coming from our partner,” said Curt Cole, the mission’s vice president of international ministries. The decision to send a team came after the mission’s local partners requested a medical assistance team.

A medical team in Ecuador, home to the mission’s two hospitals and a community development outreach, is being formed to serve in Indonesia for about two weeks. The relief arm of HCJB World Radio’s Indonesian partner has already sent in five large tents for refugees and is asking for more relief supplies. Tentative plans are for the Ecuador team to leave Quito on Monday, June 5. The team will comprise two missionary family physicians, an Ecuadorian physician, nurses and possibly a surgeon and anesthesiologist.

"We’re going to a slightly different area than we’ve been to in the past," said Steve, a physician who joined HCJB World Radio’s relief team that helped tsunami/earthquake survivors in Nias Island, Indonesia, a year ago and one of two teams that aided earthquake victims in Pakistan last fall. "This time we’re going to an area that seems more heavily populated than the last two experiences we had. That means concentrated injuries and concentrated wounded whereas in Indonesia the last time the patients were spread out over a large area."

"It’s going to be tiring," said Sheila Leech, director of HCJB World Radio’s Healthcare Division. She added: "Our team will need superhuman strength because when they hit the ground in Indonesia The UN has set up a coordination centre close to a local airport to bring order to the flow of goods. More international medical teams have flown in to help treat the injured, including personnel from the US, Japan and a 40-strong team and 5 tonnes of medical supplies from China."

(Source: HCJB World Radio)

Yogyakarta media shaken but not silenced by quake

(June 6, 2006) With journalists missing and no access to electricity, the local media in Yogyakarta struggled to find ways to get word out about the disaster, reported the Jakarta Post on Sunday, June 4, 2006. Radio stations, which depend entirely on telecommunications networks to update their news, were also touched by the chaos. "None of the crew members could be contacted," said Budi Pramono, senior manager of the state-owned RRI Yogyakarta radio station. RRI crews from Surakarta, Purwokerto and Semarang in Central Java, as well as Madiun in East Java, were deployed to back up Yogyakarta. "We are able to be on the air 24 hours a day, covering the disaster, the condition of the evacuees, aid distribution problems and more," Budi added.

Read the full story from the Jakarta Post via Asia Pacific Media Network (http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=47107)

Internews Media Support Mission to Indonesian Earthquake Zone

(June 1, 2006) Immediately following the devastating earthquake in Indonesia on May 27, Internews sent a four-person mission from Jakarta to Yogyakarta to assess the impact on local media, and to determine how best to meet the information needs of the local population and the growing international relief operation.

Internews has an extensive community and independent radio development program in Indonesia and continues to work with the international community and local media in Aceh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to help reconstruct the media following the December 2004 tsunami and October 2005 earthquake.

Although the status of all media in the Yogyakarta region will be assessed – print, radio, television, Internet – radio appears to be the key to reaching affected populations. A large number of commercial FM and community radio stations are located in the heart of the disaster. Many radio stations have reported serious injuries among their staff and almost all stations inside the zone are off the air. Prior to the earthquake, Internews radio partners COMBINE and JRKI had set up a system to disseminate information and warnings on the activity of the Merapi volcano to community radio stations for rebroadcast to local populations.

Internews plans to establish an emergency radio broadcast in partnership with the few local commercial FM broadcasters in the area still on the air. Internews will also assess what assistance the community radio network (originally set up for volcano alerts) needs in order to become operational again and to extend its reach across the entire earthquake zone. It will also ascertain whether the extensive mobile telephone infrastructure in the region can be utilized to improve the flow of information among the local communities, the radio broadcasters and the international relief effort.

An initial distribution of approximately 100 radio sets is also being considered to ensure that at least every village head in the 75-village district of Bantul – one of the most devastated areas – can receive radio broadcasts and relay that information to villagers.

Donations are needed to:

• Distribute 3,000 hand crank radio sets to displaced villagers through a network of local volunteers
• Get power generators to two local radio stations immediately so they can get back on the air fulltime broadcasting emergency information
• Get field recording equipment to provide to a core news team to gather and disseminate information
• Set up an information network between community radio stations, reporters and village leaders.

For further information on the Indonesia media support effort, please contact:

JoAnne Sullivan Woolley Internews Network Washington, DC +1 (202) 833-5740 ext 208 jsullivanATinternews.org

Kathleen Reen Internews Regional Office Bangkok + (66) 91 9-08-97 kreenATinternews.org

Japan committed to restore RRI Banda Aceh

September 15th 2005

The Head of Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) in Aceh, Ahmad Prambahan, has revealed that the station has received a commitment from government of Japan to rebuild the RRI headquarters in Banda Aceh and restore its facilities. In addition, Japan will support the construction of relay stations in several cities in Aceh, including Subusslam, Sigli, Calang, and Meulaboh. Mr Prambahan also said that similar commitments have been received from government of Germany and the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR).

Last December's tsunami and earthquakes killed 26 RRI employees and destroyed several RRI buildings and facilities. In the immediate afermath of the tsunami, RRI Banda Aceh couldn’t broadcast for two days, but on the third days after the tsunami it went back on air through its relay station in Indrapuri. In February, RRI returned to its damaged headquarters in Banda Aceh.

(Source: Indonesia Tsunami Relief Portal)

Radio station in Southeast Aceh ceases operation

July 7th 2005

The Panglima Saudane radio station in Southeast Aceh district, Indonesia, has closed its operation due to damaged equipment and the fact that employees haven't received any payment. The radio is owned by the district government and operated under supervision of the district's Communication and Information Office.

"For the last five months we have been facing too many problems, from damaged equipment to unpaid workers," said Iswadi Pinem, the radio administration officer. "As there is no sign of better management, and when finally the radio transmitter broke down, we decided to fully ceased the radio operation," he added.

Iswadi hopes the district government can immediately provide funds for, at least, the repair of the damaged equipment. But he hopes the government can also pay the radio station workers monthly wages too, and provide necessary funding for long-term operation of the station.

Based on the district government decree released in January, the Kutacane-based radio station should receive regular funding from the Communication and Information Office. Unfortunately, since January the office hasn't provided any money. Previously, the radio operated directly under supervision of the district head.

(Source: [Indonesia Tsunami Relief Portal [[1] (http://www.indonesia-relief.org/mod.php?mod=publisher&op=viewarticle&cid=24&artid=1347)])

TVRI continues to aid tsunami survivors

Indonesia’s national broadcaster, TVRI, is continuing to assist thousands of tsunami survivors camped inside its compound in the stricken city of Banda Aceh. A large park on high ground in the compound offered a safe haven after the tsunami struck on 26 December, prompting large numbers of people take refuge there. The park quickly became one of the largest refugee camps in the city. Now known as TVRI Camp, it houses about 5,000 people, who live in tents while waiting for local authorities to relocate them.

TVRI gives the refugees clean drinking water and uses one of its generators to provide them with electricity. Relief agencies help cater for their other needs. TVRI officials in Jakarta said assisting the refugees was placing a heavy strain on the broadcaster’s resources, and that conditions in the camp were far from ideal. But TVRI would continue to do all it could to help them. Aceh was the region worst hit by the tsunami. More than 125,000 people died in the province.

(Source: ABU)

68H radio gets Aceh award

The Aceh Art Council has given a Tsunami Award to 68H Radio News Agency for its contribution in radio repair efforts and news provision in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Aceh.

To date, the radio news agency has helped rebuild five radio stations in Aceh, which allowed the stations to broadcast post-tsunami stories and entertainment programs in Aceh. The agency has also developed its own news program called "Aceh News", aired over its 15 radio networks throughout Aceh.

The award was one of 31 awards presented by the Aceh Art Council to groups and individuals that contributed to Aceh in the aftermath of the disaster. In addition to the media, the awards were also given to volunteers and individuals. 68H Radio News Agency won the only category for radio.

(The Jakarta Post)

Emergency Broadcast Service for Post-Tsunami Aceh Established

Internews is working with the local media of the Indonesian province of Aceh to launch an Emergency Broadcasting Service that will get vital information to the people of Aceh whose media were destroyed or severely damaged by the tsunami.

Recently the BBC World Service reported that the hundreds of thousands of Acehnese affected by the earthquake and tsunami now have adequate food, water, and shelter, but they are desperate for information.

Aceh’s daily newspaper and some radio stations are back on the air in the capital of Banda Aceh, but the vast majority of the province is not aware what help is available from their government and from the international community.

As part of the Emergency Broadcasting Service, Internews is building the first of three production houses in Banda Aceh. Others will be built in Meulaboh and Lhokseumawe. Internews has assembled a team of radio journalists to produce a two-hour daily program that focuses on issues of health, hygiene, reconstruction, child protection, work programs, and other information that the aid community needs to communicate. Peuneugah Aceh (“News from Aceh”) will begin broadcasting March 7.

Internews is also working with First Voice International, the non-profit arm of WorldSpace Satellite Radio, to distribute digital radio receivers to each radio station on the air in remote areas of Aceh and to train local staff on how to operate them.

To help people come to terms with the trauma they have experienced in the last two months, the Emergency Broadcast Service will also be the venue for psycho-social programming. Internews will send a monitoring team around Aceh to talk to people about the program, and make adjustments to content as required.

Funds will also be used to provide stipends to journalists who are willing to go back to work and to the families of journalists who were killed in the tsunami.

Immediately after the tsunami, Internews supported Suara Aceh, a Banda Aceh emergency radio station set up by the Indonesian association of radio station owners. Internews supported other stations with equipment, and even some tents, so that journalists did not have to travel to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps every evening after work.

At the request of the United Nations, Internews managed cooperation between international relief agencies and the local media, and mapped media activity across Aceh. Internews facilitated the publication and broadcast of the names of missing people and the names of people who wanted their relatives to know that they had survived. The UN also asked Internews to coordinate the distribution of tens of thousands of small transistor radios.

The Emergency Broadcasting Service is being funded by grants to Internews from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the UK Department for International Development, the International Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, and the Canadian International Development Agency.

For more information visit the Internews Web site (http://www.internews.org/).

BBC World Service resumes FM transmissions in Aceh

16 February 2005

BBC World Service is back on air on FM in Banda Aceh, Indonesia where it is now broadcasting in English as well as in Indonesian. Three other local radio stations in Aceh are re-starting BBC World Service FM broadcasts this week. Local radio stations and radio transmitters were virtually destroyed by the earthquake and Asian tsunami which struck the region on Boxing Day.

Menuk Suwondo, Head of the BBC Indonesian service, said: "People want to know what is happening both in Indonesia and in neighbouring countries which were hard hit by the tidal waves. It is important that people in Aceh know they are not alone and can see the global picture. Our local partner stations have told us that they need the BBC programmes back as soon as possible."

Before the tsunami struck four leading local FM stations rebroadcast the BBC Indonesian service programmes live. They are in Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Lhokseumawe and in Sigli. The disaster destroyed most of their broadcast facilities and took away some of their staff. Homes, bridges and roads were destroyed by the tsunami. The lack of transport created extra logistical difficulties in restoring BBC World Service on FM broadcasts in Aceh.

Surviving radio journalists have transported the much-needed satellite dishes and receivers from the neighbouring provincial capital, Medan, to Aceh on local charter vans. "None of this could have been done without their help," said Menuk.

BBC World Service has also found a new partner station in central Aceh, a hilly part of the province which was relatively unaffected by the tidal waves. It has become one of the places where people from the affected areas have taken refuge.

Apart from providing FM partners with satellite dishes and receivers to relay the Indonesian service programmes, the BBC has also assisted some of them with radio production equipment such as microphones, programme mixers and computers. As many as 500 locally made receivers have been distributed across the refugee camps along the western coast of Aceh.

UNESCO Appeal for $600,000 Immediate Assistance to Restore Radio Broadcasting in Aceh

Programmes and projects relating to emergency relief and post disaster response in the aftermath of the Tsunami in Indonesia will have major difficulties if there are no effective communication channels available to disseminate information. UNESCO therefore launches an appeal for $600,000 for immediate assistance to restore radio broadcasting in Aceh, Indonesia.

The programmes and projects relating to emergency relief and post disaster response will have major difficulties if there are no effective communication channels available to disseminate information. The whole issue of reaching people in terms of food security, water, sanitary measures, health, nutrition, shelter and non-food items are virtually impossible without a channel to disseminate and communicate information. Radio is the most affordable operational medium in such situations.

However, the radio stations that existed in the affected areas of the Aceh province are no longer in a position to continue their operations. The initial assessment shows that 11 radio stations are damaged or destroyed. The four radio stations which existed in the Meulaboh area have been completely wiped out.

Therefore this initiative is proposed to restore radio broadcasting in Aceh with a view to support disaster communication in understanding the disaster relief efforts and supporting the psychological needs of displaced people by providing hope for survival and resurrection.

Partners in the implementation of the project will be UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), the Radio for Democracy Network, the Indonesian Association of Private Radio Stations (Persatuan Radio Siaran Swasta Nasional Indonesia - PRRSNI) and Districts in Northern and Western Sumatra.

Objectives

• Resumption of broadcasting of the affected local radio stations
• Provide a temporary income to affected radio stations to meet the operational costs for a period of nine months
• Provide 2000 battery operated radio sets for displaced people

Activities

Needs Assessment

• Purchase and distribution of battery operated radio sets
• Replacement/repair of destroyed/lost/damaged broadcasting equipment (transmission and production)
• Provision of basic inputs to resume broadcasting operations
• Financing direct operational costs of the radio stations for an initial period

Expected impact

• Restored sustainable and affordable communication systems for those having been affected
• An Enhanced vital information flow to ensure effective post disaster relief work
• A temporary source of income provided to affected radio stations
• Strengthened coordination on disaster preparedness and response

Contributions can be made to:

UNESCO/IPDC
A/C N° 949-1-191558
Jp Morgan Chase Bank
International Money Transfer Division
4 Metrotech Center, Brooklyn
New York, NY 11245, U.S.A.
SWIFT : CHASUS33 ABA N° 0210-0002-1

68H RADIO/MDLF - Indonesia

Indonesian radio network 68H is already working on getting four stations in Aceh up and running. At MDLF, we're taking donations for 68H (http://www.radio68h.com/) through our Digital Kiosk (http://kiosk.mdlf.org/estore/publisher?id=28). On Thursday, 6 January 2005, Radio News Agency 68H sent a radio technical team along with necessary equipment to rebuild radio stations destroyed in the tsunami in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam.

In Phase One, the first station to be re-established is Radio Prima, previously broadcast in Banda Aceh on 99,9 FM. At the same time, the 68H technical team will assist in the setting up of a community radio station to be managed by activists from Muhamadiyah. The aim of this initiative is to restore communications among the inhabitants of Banda Aceh and provide a means of healing and education post-disaster. 68H hopes that through the rebuilt radio stations, those living in Aceh can get information about their missing relatives.

In order to increase the effectiveness of the radio broadcasts, 68H plans to place radios and loudspeakers in 70 refugee centres in Banda Aceh. This will enable refugees to hear news about the situation in Aceh and elsewhere, especially important given that most radios were lost in the tsunami.

In Phase Two, 68H plans to rebuild Radio Dalka in Meulaboh, and Radio Megaphone in Sigli. As well as rebuilding radio stations, 68H is also concentrating efforts on building pump wells to access clean water. This clean water program is being funded by contributions from 68H listeners to our "We Care For Aceh" appeal.

The reconstruction of the four stations - Muhammadiyah and Prima FM in Banda Aceh, Dalka Radio in Meulaboh and Megaphone in Sigli – is being undertaken by 68H, an Indonesian news radio station. The US-based Media Development Loan Fund will bear the cost of repairs, estimated at US$130,000.

For more information, contact:
Santoso, Director 68H, 08111-49916

The Media Development Loan Fund has established a Web site to support Radio 68H’s post-tsunami relief effort. The site offers updated information on the reconstruction and how to contribute: [2] (http://indonesia-donations.mdlf.org/).

INTERNEWS - Indonesia

Might they have resources to help? Do they fancy adopting a devastated radio station or providing much needed new studio or field recording equipment for urgent information that needs to get out to people? Its disastrous: there is very little public info available in Aceh. In Meuloboh in the west, all 6 stations have been washed away. Our partners (5 of them) from Banda Aceh to Lhokseumawe are destroyed.

Internews Assists the Sole Radio Station Back on the Air in Aceh

(January 12, 2005) In the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, the only radio station back on the air since the devastating tsunami hit is being assisted by Internews with a “suitcase” radio transmitter that extends its coverage beyond the city. Most of the media outlets in Aceh were destroyed by the tsunami. Assistance is desperately needed to get stations and newspapers operating again and to help journalists who lost their livelihoods and homes.

Internews, which has been working with journalists in Aceh for six years, responded to the crisis by flying in a radio technical and program team, and two radio transmitters (“suitcase radio stations”) to the remote province.

Internews has also provided tape recorders and computer equipment to the new emergency radio station in Banda Aceh, “Suara Aceh” (Voice of Aceh), which has just begun broadcasting emergency health and relief aid information. Internews staff is also helping build an emergency media center in Aceh. An assessment team is meeting with radio, print and TV journalists from local media outlets and with the local branch of the new broadcasting commission to determine short- and long-terms needs for reconstructing the media there.

Serambi, the only daily newspaper in Aceh, is producing an 8-page emergency edition each day with a team of journalists who are back at work in locations across the province. Internews has brokered an agreement for the paper to provide information to the radio station, “Suara Aceh,” to make sure Serambi’s information – the most comprehensive available at this moment for Acehnese people – reaches more of the population.

Internews plans to install a second suitcase radio station in Meulaboh, southwest of Banda Aceh. Internews is also planning to set up small radio stations in the IDP (International Displaced Persons) camps in Aceh to help provide urgent information to the more than 400,000 people who may be living there for the next 1- 2 years. Inexpensive radio transistor sets, purchased by Internews, are being donated to the inhabitants of the camps.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as well as individual donors are currently funding Internews’ tsunami relief work. To contribute to the journalists support fund or Internews’ efforts to rehabilitate media, please send a check or money order to: Internews, P.O. Box 4448, Arcata, CA 95518 USA (designate “ER for Asia” or “Journalist Support Fund”). You can also donate online by going to www.internews.org and clicking on the “Donate Now through Network for Good” button.

CONTACT:
Annette Makino
+1 (707) 826-2030 extensiom123
MORE INFORMATION:
Tsunami Relief Fund for Journalists and Media Outlets (http://www.internews.org/prs/tsunami/tsunami_relief_050105.html)

Internews Indonesia Office

If your friends would like to help journalists they are more than welcome to do so - we would be so very grateful. We are sending teams out as I said earlier and will be seeking to assist local media, so if they would like to channel through us that would be fine - we have a Paris and Brussels office that can help facilitate.

"One other thing that could be extremely useful is the fully paid resources of people to come and help us rebuild - do you have engineers, studio technicians or even community radio gurus with excellent teaching and communication skills who could come, self sufficient and paid, to join our teams who will be working on this over the next few months? The task is huge, we could definitely use the help of confident, able folks who are able to work in difficult environments, without complaint, with enthusiasm and with an experienced international team of media development people - us at Internews! We have our own infrastructure out here in Indonesia - staff, office etc but will be looking for people to come in for short stints to help meet this enormous challenge."