Community radio stations obliterated, off the air in Haiti

See below for AMARC Correction to this CPJ Story!

Women sell fruit in Jacmel, where Radio Fondwa was completely destroyed along with much of the city’s downtown. 

By Jean Roland Chery/CPJ Haiti consultant
More than two weeks after earthquake that devastated Haiti, several community radio stations are still off the air. In the western and southeastern parts of the country, at least 16 stations are facing serious problems that have suspended their broadcasts, Sony Esteus, executive director of SAKS, a local organization of community radio stations, told CPJ. The earthquake obliterated SAKS’ office in the Bourdon neighborhood, east of Port-au-Prince.

Community radio stations play a leading role in local news coverage in Haiti’s most remote communities, filling the void left by private radio stations in the capital. Most of them operate with low power transmission equipment—between 10 and 500 watts. SAKS has a network of around 30 community radio stations throughout Haiti and has made bringing them back into operation its priority.

AMARC
Esteus, also a 1992 CPJ International Press Freedom awardee and the Caribbean representative of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, said the premises of Radio Fondwa in the city of Jacmel and Radio SAKA in Gran Goave were completely destroyed by the earthquake. No casualties were reported, he said, adding that two Fondwa reporters who were in station’s studio when the earthquake hit escaped unharmed.

In Petit Goave, Radyo Kolf Pye, a community radio station in the town of Value suffered great losses; in Leogane, the facilities of Radio Zetwal Peyizan collapsed, Esteus said.

Esteus, an experienced radio reporter, worked for Radio Haiti Inter for almost a decade till the station was closed in 2003. During the military coup of September 1991, while he was working as a reporter for radio Tropic FM, he was imprisoned and beaten at the headquarters of the in Port-au-Prince police department, he told CPJ.

From the Committee to Protect Journalists

 If you have any information on journalists and media outlets in Haiti please go to Committee to Protect Journalists or notify via e-mail msalazar@cpj.org, or Twitter: @HelpJournalists. They are collecting funds that will go directly to Haitian journalists.
********************
From Elizabeth Robinson of AMARC: We've received some corrections to this account from Francesco Diasio, one of the AMARC team.  He writes that Radio SAKA was not destroyed (damaged) and is broadcasting from outside.  I'm posting the latest report from Marcelo Solervicens in Montreal:

THE CPJ REPORT HAS BEEN CORRECTED BY SEVERAL AMARC MEMBERS WHO HAVE BEEN ACTIVE IN THE HAITI RECOVERY EFFORTS:
Community broadcasters mobilise in support of Haiti

Community radio broadcasters are mobilising worldwide in response to the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January. In an unprecedented global response in solidarity with the Haitian people, community radio broadcasters have organised appeals for emergency and humanitarian relief and have offered equipment and technical expertise to support Haiti's community radio stations.

An AMARC volunteer team arrived in Port-au-Prince on Sunday carrying equipment for SAKS (Society for the Animation of Social Communication), a community media production and support centre in Port-au-Prince, whose offices were destroyed when the earthquake struck. Sony Esteus, Director of SAKS and AMARC Vice President, will accompany the international team as they travel to Leogane, Grand Goave, Jacmel and other locations that are among the worst hit areas outside of the Haitian capital.

Radio Saka, the local community radio of Grand Goave, was reported back on the air, but at reduced power, and helping to mobilise local relief efforts. AMARC estimates around 12 community radios are in areas directly affected by the earthquake. The AMARC-SAKS mission will assess the impact of the earthquake on the community radio sector, provide
basic repairs and support to community media workers, and assist community radio to contribute to the humanitarian relief operation.

In the capital, most neighbourhoods have been heavily impacted. Many hundred thousand people have been left homeless and there are thousands of temporary camps. Everything happens in the streets. "The streets are the 'salon' of the people" says an old Haitian proverb. This has become a reality, even for those whose homes have not been damaged or destroyed, with people preferring to sleep in the open rather than risk staying in a building that might collapse with the next aftershock. Even the radio stations are broadcasting on the streets, with journalists afraid to work in their studios

Major international media support organisations are on the ground working to help restore Haiti's damaged communications infratructure: AMARC, International Media Support, Internews, Reporters Without Borders, are among the organisations collaborating in Haiti to avoid duplication and to assure an effective response to the disaster and the challenges of providing immediate relief.

AMARC has called on community radio broadcasters worldwide to support the Haiti relief effort, not only by broadcasting humanitarian appeals, but also be providing equipment, technical support and other resources to enable community radio in Haiti to play a central role in assuring access to information and enabling the populations affected to communicate their needs and concerns.

For news updates, further information and offers of equipment, technical and other support to assist community radio in Haiti, please visit:  http://www.amarc.org/haiti

Through service to members, networking and project implementation, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters AMARC, brings together a network of more than 4,000 community radios, Federations and community media stakeholders in more than 115 countries. The main global impact of AMARC since its creation in 1983 has been to accompany and support the establishment of a world wide community radio sector that has democratized the media sector. AMARC advocates for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighbourhood levels and defends and promotes the interests of the community radio movement through solidarity, networking and Cooperation.

Video from the Ciné Institute of Jacmel

NEWS FROM CNN JAN 20, 2010
Jacmel, Haiti (CNN) -- Much was lost in the town of Jacmel, Haiti's cultural center.
The nation's only film school has lost two buildings.

From the Toronto Star:
..... it is a group of film students that deserves the credit for ensuring Jacmel was not overlooked in the global rescue and relief effort. The Ciné Institute, a school run by a former U.S. documentary filmmaker, was hard at work when the 7.0-magnitude quake struck. The students went to work instantly with their hand-held cameras and boom microphones to capture the devastation.

Some lost family in the disaster, others lost their homes, but few have stopped working out of a small compound near the Jacmel airport. They beamed their videos to CNN, which broadcast them to the world. When the Star and a television crew from Radio-Canada visited Tuesday, they filmed the journalists at work. "We're constantly working, day and night," said Jocelyn Fyrmin, 24, a school employee. "We want these images to be seen by as many people as possible. We want to get attention and help."

Report from student: Fritzner Simeus from Jacmel from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

The Victims In Jacmel : Keziah Jean reports from the field (subtitled) from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

A short news report made before the earthquake about the Cine School:

AFP Report: "Haiti: aspiring capital of Caribbean cinema" from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

Supporters of Ciné Institute include: ArtAction, Crowing Rooster Arts, Cinereach, FOKAL,Fond.Voila, Inter-American Foundation, Jan Vrijman Fund, Hedge Against Poverty, Hubert Bals Fund, Paul Haggis, Francis Ford Coppola, the Spanish Embassy in Haiti

Force Marie Jacmel from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

Ciné Institute Director David Belle reports from Port-au-Prince:
“I have been told that much US media coverage paints Haiti as a tinderbox ready to explode. I’m told that lead stories in major media are of looting, violence and chaos. There could be nothing further from the truth.

“I have traveled the entire city daily since my arrival. The extent of damages is absolutely staggering. At every step, at every bend is one horrific tragedy after another; homes, businesses, schools and churches leveled to nothing. Inside every mountain of rubble there are people, most dead at this point. The smell is overwhelming. On every street are people — survivors — who have lost everything they have: homes, parents, children, friends.

“NOT ONCE have we witnessed a single act of aggression or violence. To the contrary, we have witnessed neighbors helping neighbors and friends helping friends and strangers. We’ve seen neighbors digging in rubble with their bare hands to find survivors. We’ve seen traditional healers treating the injured; we’ve seen dignified ceremonies for mass burials and residents patiently waiting under boiling sun with nothing but their few remaining belongings. A crippled city of two million awaits help, medicine, food and water. Most haven’t received any.

“Haiti can be proud of its survivors. Their dignity and decency in the face of this tragedy is itself staggering.”
David Belle, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 17th, 2010