Someone who had written into the BBC News website from Chennai (used
to be Madras) stated they heard about the quake from shortwave but no one made
the connection between the quake and that an Indian ocean tsunami would
result.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 3:01
PM
Subject: [Swprograms] RADIO HAD NO
WARNINGS OF KILLER WAVES
Wed, Jan 05, 2005
By Nick Higgins
An around-the-clock transmission capacity would
not have helped Radio
Australia warn people of the tsunami, the
broadcasters head said yesterday.
Mr Jean-Gabriel Manguy, who divides his time
between homes in Melbourne and
Bethanga, said there had been no warnings to
broadcast.
"It took everybody by surprise ... although I
understand that in some
reports people in India were aware of the tremor
and expected a tsunami," Mr
Manguy said from Bethanga
yesterday.
Mr Manguy is anxiously waiting for contact from
his older brother, Jacques,
who was in southern India when the tsunami
struck.
Until severe budget cuts in 1997, Radio Australia
had a 24-hour shortwave
broadcast to Indonesia and other parts of
Asia.
The shortwave service was partly restored in 2000
and there are now daily
nine-hour shortwave broadcasts throughout
Indonesia.
Mr Manguy said the shortwave broadcasts were
supplemented by Radio Australia
being available through 155 Asian FM
stations,|which broadcast in English,
Thai, Indonesian, Cantonese,
Japanese, Vietnamese and French.
Thirty of those stations are in Indonesia and
reach an estimated seven
million listeners.
Mr Manguy said the disaster had shown 24-hour
transmission would have been
valuable in the aftermath and during rescue
and relief operations.
"Natural disasters and political violence are
difficult to predict or
forewarn but as soon as they happen people need to
know what is going on and
local coverage is often censored," he
said.
Just hours after the tsunami Radio Australia
journalists spoke to the
Indonesian Vice-President, Mr Jusuf
Kalla.
Budget cuts in the late 1990s resulted in a
halving of Radio Australias
staff, which now number 76.
Radio Australias annual budget is $13.5 million
but in 1997 it was twice
that amount.
A transmitter near Shepparton broadcasts to
eastern parts of Indonesia and
Pacific Ocean countries while a transmitter
at Darwin broadcasts to Indian Ocean regions.
PAUL DAVID
Chairman, Brent
Visually-Handicapped Group
Registered Charity No.: 272955
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