Govt extending disaster awareness campaign to TV

Afsana Rashid
Srinagar, April 8:The government has decided to extend its earthquake preparedness awareness campaign to television after its popularity on radio, a top disaster management official said.
"The audio-jingles (advertisements) on the earthquake preparedness are gaining popularity and wide appreciation among radio listeners," Aamir Ali, project coordinator UNDP/Disaster Management, office of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir said.
These 40-second radio ads feature popular comedians Nazir Josh and Shakeel Ahmad, famous for his role as Shahi Peer.
The purpose of the advertisements is to educate masses about the preventive measures that can be taken during an earthquake.
Broadcast on Radio Kashmir Srinagar daily during the primetime since April 3, officials say that the response has been so encouraging that they are contemplating extending the ad campaign to visual medium like Door Darshan and other private television channels.
"These ads are broadcast just before the 7:30 pm news on Radio Kashmir, when highest number of listeners are tuned in and the message gets across to more people," Project coordinator Ali said.
On being asked why comedians have been used in the audio-jingles (advertisements) to educate people about the measures to be taken during natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods or storms, Ali said, "If such messages are presented in a serious tone, they can, sometimes, create scare."
When asked why radio was selected as a means of communication for the message, he said that radio has a vital role to play during disasters.
"Electricity becomes the first casualty during disasters and it is not possible to run televisions without electricity. Messages are mostly circulated through radio as it has a wide coverage in far-off places. Besides, radio being portable can be carried along while working. However, television has its own importance. We are coming up with the visual-jingles. We have not yet decided over the characters; probably we will use the same characters as in audio jingles. Hopefully, the visual jingles will be telecast this month on Doordarshan and other television channels," said Ali.