Print this page

CBA helps with transmitter and studio for Haiti



Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW), with the help of a modest grant from the CBA, has despatched a ‘Radio in a Box’ to Haiti. It's a reliable, sturdy and low-cost integrated mobile broadcasting system for community radio in disasters and emergencies. The radio box contains a laptop, mixer, CD/cassette player and an FM transmitter. The CBA normally only helps Commonwealth countries from its Disaster Fund, but it was approached for help by Caribbean contacts, in particular Allyson Leacock, Executive Director of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS and Patrick Cozier, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union.  As a result, the CBA decided, in view of the magnitude of the disaster, to help Haiti.  

The equipment has been sent to CECOSIDA in Port au Prince. CECOSIDA President, Roosevelt Jean-Francois, expressed his thanks to the CBA and Radio Netherlands Worldwide:

"This support from the CBA and RNW is greatly appreciated and very useful for Haiti. This is a practical way to extend the emergency information response and close the communication gap which has been widened with the violent earthquake which collapsed the Haitian capital. This mobile radio station will help CECOSIDA and its network of media partners and journalists to contribute more useful information at this critical moment." 

RNW also sent a 'radio in a box' to Sumatra after the earthquake in Padang, Indonesia last September. The reactions there were positive and the station is still in use for post disaster information, for example trauma healing for children.

Once most of the radio stations in Haiti have been recovered, the ‘radio in a box’ will be returned to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, as Dutch media legislation does not allow a permanent gift.

 

 


Search News: