Jon Hargreaves, Feba’s International Director, says: "The trial has been a great success. The team have accomplished all of the objectives."

Enduring very hot humid weather and working with little sleep, the team successfully got the disaster response radio on air. They distributed leaflets and radios in the community, interviewed listeners over the phone and in person. They broadcast throughout the 3-day trial period over FM and short wave.

View a video: FIRST Response Lessons Learned

Hear audio from Jon Hargreaves, Feba UK: FIRST Response Accomplishments

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The FM team managed to get the station on air and sustain radio broadcasting for the full duration of the trial, using live interviews, pre-recorded interviews, telephone interviews, public service announcements and local music. The people in Nagapattinam have been very enthusiastic, because they do not have a community station yet that is broadcasting on FM.

The short wave teams produced seven days worth of programmes in less than three days. “They have managed to generate really relevant content, particularly for the people up in northeast of India where there is flooding at the moment, and their focus has really been on addressing issues related to that area.” The short wave programme producers interviewed people from the northeast by phone and Skype, including some development workers who could give a ground assessment of what people need to do and where people can find help.

So what’s next?

Some members of the FIRST Response team will go on to Delhi to present the radio trial results to the government of India. Jon says: “We hope this is part of the credibility building process and will in fact begin to lay the ground work for setting up such response teams in India and setting up the legal framework for licenses to be granted quickly in the event of an emergency or a disaster.”

The FIRST Response coordinator adds: “The real golden desire is that we’ve created equipment and left behind skills and abilities so that the local team can respond to disasters in India in the future, and not just India but to be a team that’s flexible to respond to needs in neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, in the whole region.”