Role of community radio FM-93 Hunza during the Attabad lake crisis

ABSTRACT

The Attabad lake disaster took place on 4[th] January, 2010 in Northern Areas of Pakistan near China border when a massive landslide slid the Attabad village into the river Hunza. The debris blocked the water flow in the river and created a large barrier lake. The level of the water in the lake continued to increase at an alarming speed thus causing a great threat to the people of areas. There was a great need to establish communication links with the people of the area for rescue activities. To cope with the situation, Radio Pakistan set-up FM-93 Baltit Fort Hunza radio station on emergency basis. The study was carried out to evaluate the role of the community radio station that it played during the crisis situation. Survey method was used to collect the data. The population consisted of all the sixty-five thousand people affected by the crisis while sample size was two hundred subjects. The results showed that 85% subjects agreed with the supportive role of the radio station while 15% did not agree. Therefore, it was concluded that the community radio FM-93 Hunza played an effective role in addressing the issue