Report by OrissaDiary.com correspondent; Bhubaneswar: Night of 10th Sept was a black night for people of Gop Block in Puri district as the breach in the embankment of Kusabhadra river at Kusupur made flood water gush into the villages and even the Gop market that never saw a flood like this. Within a few minutes thousands of the families living in different villages lost their houses and belongings. Some died, many went missing. As the old mud and kuchha houses collapsed, people took shelter on roof top of nearest buildings where they had to spend 3 days.
Experiencing the gravity of the situation, Radio Namaskar – the community radio of the locality soon started broadcasting information about the flood and about people in the affected areas. It was of immense help to people as, even, persons missing or stuck off in places could get information on the radio about their families and villages.
As Radio Namaskar soon became the medium of communication in the flood gripped localities, local administration also tapped it as an opportunity to make announcements of updates and information.
Not keeping the activities limited to broadcast of information only, Radio Namaskar also involved it in the rescue activities. A dedicated telephone line was used by Radio Namaskar to link the affected communities with administration and others through radio. Within a week, more than one thousand phone calls were received from people. 32 relief teams and number of individual volunteers coordinated and facilitated all the activities of Radio Namaskar in the flood affected area for which, many people could save their life.
Apart from becoming the voice of the flood hit population, Radio Namaskar disseminated the way how Community Radios can play a crucial role in time of disasters.