The effectiveness of community radio infrastructure to support disaster preparedness (case study of community radio in Merapi Volcano, Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Abstract

The updated information about the disaster situation is one of the crucial aspects for people who live in hazardous areas. The community radio is one of the communication media which is required by the community to receive the fast and accurate information its updated condition of the disasters. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of community radio for supporting disaster preparedness activities. This study was conducted based on the qualitative descriptive approach where the respondents are the community, the managers of community radio and the Non-Government Organization of Combine Resources Institution. The data for the qualitative analysis was obtained by interviews, fills the questionnaires, and observation of the above respondents. The result of this study shows the high effectiveness of the community radio for supporting the disaster preparedness, i.e. 63.6 %. Its effectiveness is influenced by the utilization, management and economy impact of the community radio. The community radio which is established by the community is more effective to use compare others communities. Each community knows what they need to maintain their lives. The community also gives a positive response to present the community radio. Its positive response results in the ability of the community to adapt to the community radio. The community requirement which is followed by the response and their adaptation encourage the community to use community radio in more effective.