In wake of the Pakistan earthquake, international Christian relief agency World Vision is leading awareness through raising efforts via radio, which is targeted towards families preparing to leave relief camps across Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
While partnering with other members of the Child Protection Network, World Vision Japan is funding the project, where five-minute radio spots in the national language ‘Urdu’ are currently being aired five times a day by Radio Pakistan at key times such as when families congregate for meals together in the camps.
Aimed at particular vulnerable families with children, some of the key messages include, 'Stay together while leaving the camp', 'Teach your child his/her name', 'You can't be forced to go back to your home' and 'You can take all of your belongings with you'.
The Child Protection Network of which World Vision is a member also disseminated key messages on the front pages of the seven Urdu daily newspapers published from Abbottabad and widely circulated in the quake-ravaged Hazara region of the NWFP.
According to Makiba Yamano, World Vision Programme Officer, the majority of the internally displaced are women and youth under the age of 18, making radio an excellent means of communication.
”We will air the programme until the 31 March- when official camps are expected to close, but recognising the importance of the information, we are making plans to extend it,” said Yamano.
”With a national literacy rate of 30-40%, radio is certainly the most effective way of conveying information,” agreed Murtaza Quraishi, station director of Radio Pakistan Abbottabad with more than 22 years radio experience.Quraishi added, “We envisage that these radio programmes will motivate people and create a sense of belonging- and the messages are not only targeting parents. They are also conveyed in a way that children can understand.”
”The prime time show between two o'clock and four o'clock is aired across Pakistan, including the tribal belt of Kala Dhaka and even reaches as far as the Middle East and UK,” Quraishi said.
According to a UN report, a total of 156 camps with a population of 142,940 people are scattered around earthquake-affected areas. Of these, 96 camps with 86,264 people are located in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir and 60 camps with 56,676 people are located in the NWFP, where World Vision is focusing its relief and recovery activities.
In addition, World Vision has also distributed some 6,000 leaflets with key messages to parents and the wider internally displaced community regarding the safety and protection of children during the return journey.
”World Vision is the first organisation to distribute written messages to the internally displaced with enough focus on vulnerable groups, especially children”, said Yamano.
Some 6,000 cartoon posters, targeting illiterate displaced people are also conveying these important protection messages.
Yamano said, “More local NGOs are approaching us for the copies of the leaflets to distribute in the camps”.
According to a UN report almost 10,000 people have so far returned to villages in Battagram district alone, as heavy rains and land slides continue to hamper relief and return efforts.
