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between 2002 and 2005. An additional number of more than 25

TV broadcasts has been counted.

A magazine on project activities in Afghanistan

In Mozambique and some other Southern African countries the

media landscape is quite ample, including written press, radio

and TV broadcasting, both private and government-owned. This

is not the case in many other disaster-prone countries. In

Afghanistan, InWEnt has not yet included direct media activities

in its ongoing human resources development activities. However,

DRM issues have been presented to the public in a pashto-

language magazine, edited by InWEnt’s local project coordinator

Nadjib Yussufi in cooperation with the Afghan Department of

Disaster Preparedness. Seven editions of the magazine have been

published so far. “It includes information on our workshops and

seminars as well as reports on natural hazards and prevention

measures, written by experts from Afghanistan and abroad,” says

Yussufi.

Separate training of journalists and press relations

officers

Indonesia, another country with many InWEnt activities in the

field of human resources development for DRM, has a very

vivid media industry. The public can choose from 11 national

and 34 local TV stations, 1,200 radio stations, 176 newspa-

pers with a circulation of almost five million daily copies, plus

hundreds of weekly papers and magazines. Most media

concerns belong to big publishing houses and there is heavy

competition between them. This puts pressure on the jour-

nalists to always come up with a sensational story. Journalist

organizations lament a lack of in-depth, background and inves-

tigative reporting.

The Capacity and Institutional Development in Disaster Risk

Management (CID) project is a joint effort by InWEnt, the

Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK), the Secretariat of

the National Coordination Board for Disaster and Internally

Displaced People Management (BAKORNAS) and the Ministry

of Home Affairs in cooperation with German companies GTZ and

BGR. The project will devote a special focus to media related

activities, following a planning workshop held in Jakarta and

attended by journalists and press relation officers working in the

field of DRM.

Training for journalists will include workshops on research,

writing skills and the ethics of disaster reporting. The CID project

will also work towards agreed standards of operational proce-

dures for communications between government institutions and

the media in a disaster situation. Special focus will be given to

the watchdog role of journalism.

Dialogue and training workshops will also be offered to press

relations officers – as separate events, not together with jour-

nalists. The two groups have different roles to play. Press relations

officers are the ‘voice’ of their institutions, trying to communicate

their policies and activities to the public. The role of journalists,

however, is not to just interpret and hand on this information to

readers, listeners or viewers, but also to question and verify the

facts, to find opposing views, to look at the issue from various

angles and to find out about the effects of such policy and action

on the people in the street.

Crisis and emergency risk communication for press

relations officers in Indonesia

Training for press relations officers will focus on creative commu-

nication tools, and especially on crisis and emergency risk

communication. This is a set of methods used in order to provide

all necessary information during an emergency situation – be it

an early warning, an evacuation order or general disaster infor-

mation – as clearly, accurately and concisely as possible. If the

affected population feels itself well informed, rumours and panic

can be avoided. Since press relations officers do not usually have

direct access to the general public, they need to rely on journal-

ists to spread their important messages. In a disaster situation,

press relations officers and journalists need to work hand in hand.

This requires trust and a good working relationship between the

two groups, which need to be established well ahead of an actual

emergency. At all times, press relations officers need to keep jour-

nalists well informed, providing them with all necessary data,

relevant quotes and access to the field.

Apart from the actual crisis situation, press relations officers’

skills in the field of public awareness raising and sensitization will

be enhanced by the joint development of comprehensive manuals,

brochures and information material. Activities will focus mainly on

the national level and on two priority areas – one being a rural and

remote island, the other one an urban area in Central Java. In order

to spread training competence, participants of training activities

at national level will become trainers in the priority areas.

Support for journalists’ watchdog role

Proper disaster risk management is not possible without media

support. However, there is no way to force journalists into the

issue. They need to be attracted by providing them with well-

prepared, relevant information and by giving them the

opportunity to see how DRM works in practice. It does not make

sense to hide potential problems from them. By reporting on the

weak points of disaster preparedness, media publications

contribute to awareness-raising, not only in the general public

but also among stakeholders and political decision makers, thus

increasing the relevance of DRM institutions. Journalists have a

watchdog role to play and it is a good idea to support them in it.

Sensitization and awareness-raising on DRM issues is not a

singular event. It needs to be a permanent process involving policy

makers, stakeholders, experts, press relations officers and jour-

nalists. They all have different roles to play, but in an actual

disaster situation they need to work hand in hand as well as possi-

ble. The sooner this is addressed the better.

Journalists at the workshop in Nairobi, initiated by

UN/ISDR and InWEnt

Photo: InWEnt - Capacity Building International