HCJB partner radio station in Congo encourages residents after earthquakes

A voice of hope continues to blanket the city of Bukavu and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo after a pair of earthquakes rocked the region last Sunday killing at least 46 people, including 10 who were attending church services.

Though the quake left hundreds injured and thousands homeless in the DRC as well as neighbouring Rwanda, Radio Kahuzi, a partner station of the Christian radio ministry HCJB Global Voice in Bukavu, suffered only minor damage.

Richard McDonald, a missionary who serves at Radio Kahuzi with his wife Kathy, was making a last-minute check of the radio equipment, preparing to leave for church, when the category-6.0 quake struck at 9:30am local time.

"The very heavy rack supporting the transmitters began rocking violently from side to side," McDonald explained. "I tried to wrestle it to a stop and switched off the power, waiting for just less than a minute for the quake to finish.

"Danny Magadju, our journalist in training, powered down the studio and we exited for safety. No equipment was damaged, so we cautiously went back on the air," McDonald explained. Since then the broadcasts have been interrupted only occasionally by brief power outages.

McDonald added that engineers are keeping a close eye on two nearby hydroelectric dams that already had cracks and may have suffered further damage in the temblors. "But we are on the air as normal thus far," he said.

Radio Kahuzi received numerous calls from listeners, asking about the quakes and the status of two nearby volcanoes which may be coming back to life after years of inactivity. The epicentre of the first quake was 30 miles northwest of Bukavu at Mount Kahuzi, after which the station is named.

"We also got calls during the night when a second category-5.0 earthquake hit," McDonald said. "We had calls from radio club coordinators sharing how distressed families were coming to them for guidance and help."

The morning after the quakes, members of local Radio Kahuzi clubs met, organised, gathered funds and began constructing shelters for the homeless. "We gave them sheeting to serve as roofs, baby blankets for the cold air and radios to follow our broadcasts," McDonald explained.


The station also continues to keep listeners informed about where to find food, sheeting and medicines. "The authorities are requesting everyone to stay outside until this [crisis] passes," he added. "We will continue to work with the authorities and our radio clubs to inform the population of any dangers and how they can get help.

"We will also keep distributing Galcom fixed-tuned solar-powered radios and baby blankets and what tracts we have to different groups in different directions to also get God's Word out to meet their spiritual needs amid the dangers. Certainly, everyone is tuning in to hear details about their security and the quakes."

McDonald added that he and the station's staff have kept in close contact with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in D.R.C. known as MONUC. "The Lord graciously allowed us to work with the Chinese doctors and medics from MONUC on Saturday, the day before the quake, as a visiting missionary required emergency medical treatment.

"Now we are following up with tracts we have in their language and giving them Galcom radios. The Lord has allowed us a similar opportunity during the wars when several Chinese MONUC soldiers befriended us," he said.

Earthquakes are not unusual in the western Great Rift Valley - a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

In 1994 a magnitude-6 tremor in the foothills of western Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains killed at least six people. In 1966 a magnitude-7 earthquake killed 157 people and injured more than 1,300 in the Semliki Valley, also in western Uganda.

"We have seen in conversations with people of various backgrounds a willingness to bring the Lord into this subject as they have difficulty coping with the day to day of this," McDonald said. "Pray for our outreach as we have the opportunity to share the reason of the hope that we have within."