An interactive map in Quakemap.org showing the number of reports originating from earthquake-hit areas.
Photo: Quakemap.org
An interactive map in Quakemap.org showing the number of reports originating from earthquake-hit areas. Photo: Quakemap.org

Uncertain times

Lessons from uneven and unequal access to information during times of crisis.
An interactive map in Quakemap.org showing the number of reports originating from earthquake-hit areas.<br />Photo: Quakemap.org
An interactive map in Quakemap.org showing the number of reports originating from earthquake-hit areas.
Photo: Quakemap.org

(This article is a part of the web-exclusive series from our latest issue 'Disaster Politics'. More from the print quarterly here.)

Two months after the Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015, Balram was selling mangoes and bananas from his bicycle in an affluent Kathmandu neighbourhood. He explained that he had returned to his family in Motihari, India, the day after the quake, where he also felt light tremors. To plan his return to Kathmandu, he listened to the news on Kantipur TV and Radio Nepal, and decided to go back after just ten days in India; he had to continue to earn his living. Immediately after his return, he experienced the large aftershock of 12 May. Now, he says the business remains light and he avoids the small galis with tall buildings as a safety precaution. He admits feeling concerned about the continual rumours that a bigger earthquake is yet to come. As no one could predict the first one, he says he does not know what to believe. However, he adds, he finds comfort in knowing that the truth is clear in god's eyes.

Balram's story highlights some of the strategies earthquake-affected people have used to make decisions about safety and livelihood. The abundance of rumours about an imminent, even larger earthquake indicates the uncertainty people have faced in the aftermath of the disaster. It also highlights the need for trustworthy information networks. Similar rumours were noted in the wake of other earthquake-related disasters, such as in Gujarat in 2001 and in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.

Living in a seismically active zone means living with the probability of tremors, which cannot be scientifically predicted with much accuracy. As anthropologist Annemarie Samuels indicates in her research on the Indian Ocean tsunami, the difficulty of sorting fact from fiction as people confront unknowable futures can lead to circuits of rumour that reveal much about general social anxieties. Just as people needed information on basic safety measures and the state of infrastructure – especially roads and government relief measures – a number of governmental, international and civil-society organisations also worked to quickly gather data about the effects of the quake. The public life of the event in media and civil society suggests that despite many Nepalis' current fascination with data and 'transparent' information, such initiatives cannot simply paper over inequalities and uneven access to information as a resource in contemporary society.

Government and data
Following the quake, the urgency of maintaining communication and reaching out to those in need was expressed by many in Nepal. Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), Kabiraj Khanal, highlighted the government's efforts to ensure that telecommunications remained operational. He said the MIC had lobbied telecom providers to offer free phone calls during the crisis. The fact that jammed lines were widely reported after this announcement, however, diluted the effectiveness of this well-intentioned measure. Khanal also cited the government's call centre as a successful public initiative. The centre, open 24 hours a day for the first three weeks, received 89,600 calls. The majority came from affected districts, such as Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, Dhading and Gorkha. Callers were then transferred to appropriate local authorities.

The government was somewhat slower to offer help via the internet, especially for people seeking information about the earthquake. Even though social media has a narrow reach, confined to Kathmandu and other urban areas, for the first two weeks after the disaster, the Ministry of Home Affairs directed internet traffic to updates on the website of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD. It was the foreign journalists, international observers and the Nepali diaspora that quickly created a large online presence on earthquake-related matters. It is thus reasonable to assume that they were the targeted audience for the online materials that the government subsequently developed.

On 1 June, the Home Ministry and ICIMOD released the Disaster Relief and Recovery Information Platform (DRRIP) "to deliver timely, credible, and actionable data and information for earthquake relief operations, and to support the recovery and rehabilitation efforts of the Government." The web-based platform provides demographic and geophysical data, maps, infographics, needs assessment and information on relief organisations operating from the district to the Village Development Committee (VDC) level. According to Basanta Shrestha, Director of Strategic Cooperation at ICIMOD, the platform provides a standardised "complete picture at multiple levels", and would become the government's sole authority after about a month. While describing ICIMOD's work on the platform as an effort to "promote information as a public good", Shrestha emphasised that "whatever we do is to help government".

An important feature of the platform, given the monsoon, is the geohazards page, which pinpoints reported landslides and ranks the risk level from low to high. In Manang district, for example, the map shows a number of hazards, such as the point where two landslides have blocked the Marshyangdi River, posing a 'high' level of risk. Manang's Assistant Chief District Office Ram Hari Sharma, in response to our queries, replied that he was well aware of the DRRIP website, as it was an initiative of his own organisation, the Home Ministry. While speaking favourably of the initiative, Sharma said a situation had not yet arisen for him to use data on the web platform. Sharma cited patchy phone and internet connectivity as an obstacle to drawing upon such initiatives. When we contacted him on 30 June, his office had no internet access, and he guessed that the connectivity was unlikely to be back the following day. In Rasuwa district – which also had a number of landslides mapped on DRRIP's geohazards page – the new Chief District Office (CDO), Shiva Gelal, told us that he was not particularly familiar with the DRRIP site, and that he found local sources of information to be the most useful. He thought that the police, the Armed Police Force and local people were the best sources of information on earthquake damage and geohazards in the district. Neither of the CDO offices was familiar with other websites containing earthquake-related information.

Across the airwaves
In comparison to internet-based platforms, far more Nepalis received news about the disaster from their radio sets. Radio stations shouldered a strong social responsibility, remaining on air to the greatest extent possible, even though about 100 local stations in 14 districts were damaged, according to the estimate of Ujyaalo FM's Director Gopal Guragain. Approximately ten local stations were airing from tents as their buildings were damaged. About 70 percent are yet to be restored to full airtime. Some stations were so badly damaged that they may not be able to resume operations. As Guragain explained, his FM station only went off the air for several minutes following the quake. He had just landed at Tribhuwan International Airport from a trip abroad when the quake hit. His team at the studio, trained in disaster response by National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) and experts from Tribhuwan University, was already broadcasting messages to reassure people and remind them to stay calm, find open spaces and to refrain from panicking.

FM radio stations – which began operating on a privately-owned basis in Nepal in 1996, and were given the green light by government to broadcast their own news in 2001 – have been credited with democratising the media and promoting inclusive development. Immediately after the earthquake, stations broadcast public service announcements (PSAs), reported the growing number of casualties and the extent of damages. They suggested people to remain outside and take care of sanitation to avoid epidemics, and continually announced reports on aftershocks. Ujyaalo network's PSAs provided the police hotline number and cautioned listeners against believing in unfounded predictions. Further, listeners were told to avoid Twitter and Facebook as sources of news, as rumours could easily spread via social media. Local stations even translated some of these announcements into regional languages. The radio messages that sought to dispel rumours had some success. As rumours of an even larger quake – said to hit at 11 pm on 25 April – circulated rapidly via word of mouth and social media, a middle-aged man taking shelter at the crowded football ground in Chyasal, Kathmandu, assured people that he had learned from the radio that no one could predict the exact time of an earthquake.

Other radio programmes focused on less immediate but still vital needs. Ujyaalo FM aired a very successful one-hour programme, 'Man ka Sukha Dukha', for 10 days, during which people would talk to trained counsellors on air. Questions for the counsellors were also gathered through phone calls and text messages. Ujyaalo's 45-minute programme, 'Nepal Kampan 2072' (which has aired daily since the earthquake), has provided local coverage and takes call-in questions, with an estimated reach of up to five million listeners, as it is rebroadcast by many local stations throughout the country. Ujyaalo FM plans to air the programme for the next two years, with a focus on connecting policymakers with citizens, to track relief operations and encourage accountability. The programme will also continue to emphasise the need for local elections, after a hiatus of 18 years. Indeed, academics, journalists and the National Planning Commission's Post Disaster Needs Assessment Report have cited the absence of locally elected representatives as a serious obstacle to facilitating equitable relief distribution.

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