Radio Netherlands Worldwide is sending a complete mobile radio station to the disaster area in Haiti. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA), a global umbrella organisation of broadcasters and a partner of RNW, will take delivery of the radio station. The CBA was approached for help by Caribbean contacts and will send the equipment to the CECOSIDA radio station in Port-au-Prince.
As the Dutch international public broadcaster, RNW regards it as part of its remit to provide a country which has been so badly hit by disaster with technical services support.
RNW General Director Jan Hoek: There are virtually no radio stations still operating in Port-au-Prince. People there are cut off from every form of information. By providing the CBA with the requisite broadcasting equipment RNW is helping to facilitate the search for family members and inform people where they can get free medical care, water and food.
Radio in a box
The mobile radio station, also known as the radio in a box, was specially constructed for use in countries where radio transmitters have been partially or completely destroyed by a disaster. The radio station, less than a cubic metre in size, is equipped with an FM transmitter, a mixing console, microphones, a CD player and a laptop computer. Once the transmitters in Haiti are largely operational again the mobile station will be returned to the Netherlands.
Indonesia
Following the earthquake in Padang, Indonesia, in September last year, we sent a ‘radio in a box’ to Sumatra. RNWs partner stations were highly successful using it to get the flow of information started again. At present the radio transmitter there is being used for post disaster information provision, such as trauma healing for children.
Apart from providing a mobile radio station, RNWs transmitter in Bonaire is being used to broadcast Creole radio programmes from the Voice of America.