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A new Asian book published this month takes a critical look at the communication lessons of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, and explores the role of good communications before, during and after disasters.
Titled 'Communicating Disasters: An Asia Pacific Resource Book', the multi-author book discusses how information, education and communication can help create disaster resilient communities across the Asia Pacific region, home to half of humanity.
Coming out in time for the third anniversary of the tsunami, the book carries an entire section which reflects on the communication lessons of that mega-disaster.
Drawing on the tsunami, Kashmir earthquake and other recent disasters, the book concludes: adequate planning by media and disaster managers can help avoid communications disasters when communicating about disasters.
With focus on the appropriate use of media-based communications, the publication covers rapid on-set disasters such as tsunami, earthquakes, cyclones and landslides as well as those that unfold slowly, such as drought.
The book, co-published by the non-profit media foundation TVE Asia Pacific and the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok, brings together 21 authors – most of them from Asia – who share their experiences and insights on effective communication related to various disasters.
It was released during the Third Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 11 to 13 December 2007. The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in disaster prevention and early warning was discussed during the event, attended by 1,700 people.
Communicating Disasters was edited by two leading Asian journalists – Sri Lankan Nalaka Gunawardene and Indian Frederick Noronha – and carries a foreword by Sir Arthur C Clarke, inventor of the communications satellite.
"Communicating disasters -- before, during and after they happen -- is fraught with many challenges," Sir Arthur Clarke says in his foreword. "Today’s ICT tools enable us to be smart and strategic in gathering and disseminating information. But there is no silver bullet that can fix everything. We must never forget how even high tech (and high cost) solutions can fail at critical moments. We can, however, contain these risks by addressing the cultural, sociological and human dimensions."
The book's contributors come from backgrounds in print and broadcast media, photojournalism, the UN system, civil society, academia and the humanitarian sector. They draw on their rich and varied experience in either preparing disaster resilient communities or responding to humanitarian emergencies triggered by specific disasters. Five chapters are written by leading Asian journalists who covered the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
"This book comes out at a time when both the media industry and the global humanitarian sector are undergoing rapid change," says co-editor Nalaka Gunawardene, who is also Director of TVE Asia Pacific. "Our contributors are among the 'change agents' leading or consolidating these changes, and thus able to offer insights from the cutting edge in their respective spheres."
Whenever a hazard turns into a disaster of any kind, journalists and humanitarian workers are among the first to arrive on the scene. But their needs and agendas are different: journalists have to access and verify real time information, and get their story out ahead of the competition, while the priority for humanitarian workers and disaster managers is to provide relief to affected people.tags: India non-fiction media journalism disaster undp aid alternative development
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Nalaka Gunawardene & Frederick Noronha (eds) with miscallenous authors
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* The 2004 Tsunami: Unfinished Story, by Johanna Son, Director, Inter Press Service – Asia Pacific;
* A Candle in My Window, by Peter Griffin, Co-founder, South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog
* Nobody Told Us to Run…, by Chanuka Wattegama, Director - organisational development, LIRNEasia
* Children of Tsunami: Documenting Asia’s Longest Year, by Manori Wijesekera and Nalaka Gunawardene, TVE Asia Pacific
* Beyond the Disaster News Template, by Joanne Teoh Kheng Yau, senior producer, Channel News Asia, Singapore
* Surviving the Tsunami: A Journalist's Story, by Frederick Noronha, freelance writer, journalist and ICT activist, India
* Capturing Nature’s Fury, by Shahidul Alam, Founder, Drik Picture Library, Bangladesh
* Stop All the Clocks! Beyond Text: Looking at the Pics, by Max Martin, Journalist and editor of indiadisasters.org
* Seeing Disasters Differently: How to Unearth Real Disaster Stories, by Amjad Bhatti, coordinating editor, South Asia Disaster Report 2005
* Communicating to Save Lives, by Patrick Fuller, Communications Coordinator, IFRC Tsunami Response in Sri Lanka
* Extra Hands in Times of Crisis, by Veronica Balderas, United Nations Volunteers
* Engaging the Media: A Rough Guide, by A S Panneerselvan, Executive Director, Panos South Asia
* Building Bridges: Managers and the Media, by Sanny Jegillos, Rajesh Sharma and Pablo Torrealba, UNDP
* Who's Afraid of Citizen Journalists? by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sri Lanka
* Bridging the Long ‘Last Mile’, by Nalaka Gunawardene, Director and CEO, TVE Asia Pacific
* Gender and Disasters: Tracing the Link, by Ammu Joseph, independent journalist and author, India
* Healing Broken Hearts, Calming Anguished Minds, by Chin Saik Yoon, founder and publisher, Southbound, Malaysia...
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http://www.tveap.org/disastercomm/0801dis.html
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Frederick Noronha fred@bytesforall.org
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Feb 24th, 2008 |
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