Dorothy Tan and The Midnight Terror

"I am Dorothy Tan". That's how the broadcaster of Singapore when it ended the news broadcast in one afternoon, about 20 years ago. In our village, far away in the interior of North Sumatra, only Singapore radio signals are caught quite clearly in radio antennas. Of course I did not understand what the broadcaster was broadcasting. But incidentally, a beloved father who knows little English, is able to capture messages from the news, which then translated his beloved father into our local language (Batak).

Parsoburan, the name of our village, was already touched by Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) Jakarta. But unfortunately, his voice is still hoarse, occasionally disappeared especially when the wind is strong. As a result, not much information we can enjoy from RRI at that time. Moreover, the current electricity network is still limited, only lights up with a certain hour.

One night, shortly after Dorothy Tan completed her broadcast assignment, the whole village was suddenly startled by a group of people from Porsea, some 45 kilometers from Parsoburan. They looked panicked and frightened, squeezing in the open truck. What the hell happened? Apparently, PT Inti Indorayon (now PT Toba Pulp Lestari), a pulp mill operating in Porsea has leaked tanks containing chemicals. That said, chemicals released into the air is able to kill humans. That's what keeps the people around the factory scattering themselves to farther areas. A terrible midnight terror.

Not a bit we know the beginning of the leak before they come in droves to our village. Communication channels were still very limited. The home telephone network is not available yet, while the landline is only active until late afternoon. It is inconceivable that the pulp mill is exploding and its reach is able to reach our village. The whole village is certain to experience mass disaster.

The next day, Dorothy Tan's voice re-emerged from the radio, she preached about the incident that on the previous night made our whole village to be awake. Thankfully, the phenomenal event was not to sacrifice casualties. My dear dad translated Dorothy's news to me: no casualties.

That's my experience of a radio broadcast that must be enjoyed from the opposite country. We are forced to understand English because of the difficulty of receiving an Indonesian language broadcast. In fact, bad news from neighboring villages, should be obtained from Singapore radio.

Lake Toba and Disaster Preparedness Radio

The condition of 20 years ago is very different from now. Our previously closed village of communication channels, now arguably well established information. The telephone network and the internet have transformed into a necessity for all levels of society. It does not take many hours let alone days to find out what happened outside the village. However, the presence of radio that once had become the idol of the inhabitants of the village, slowly abandoned by the entry of television broadcasts, followed by telephone and internet. A change of time that feels very fast and instant.

In fact, Indonesia as released National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) is a multi-disaster prone country. More specifically, Mount Toba which transformed into Lake Toba and is only about 70 kilometers from the Parsoburan, one of the biggest eruptions in the history of human civilization. Indeed, in the notes BNPB, Mount Toba located at the bottom of Lake Toba so far no longer active status. However, a disaster actually is very difficult to ascertain. For as the wise say, no one is able to resist nature. We can only anticipate disaster as much as possible.

Lake Toba which is now one of the world's tourism destinations continue to preen attention following the attention of the Jokowi-JK government towards this tourist destination. However, as a precaution, it is necessary to educate people around Lake Toba for "SadarBencana" (Disaster Preparedness) which may appear suddenly. Well, the presence of radio is a sufficiently effective means to provide a complete understanding to the wider community.

To be more interesting, conscious disaster radio broadcasts can be adopted from the folk legend as the folklore around about the occurrence of Lake Toba. Radio re-staging on Lake Toba may be very easy if BNPB cooperates with local government as well as holding local radio stations. I imagine the enthusiasm of the local people when hearing the story of the occurrence of Lake Toba through radio broadcasts. It would be much more interesting if the story was spoken in the local language so that the disaster-conscious messages inserted in the story scenario could be fully understood by all listeners.

As a result, SadarBencana is easily accepted as well as taking care of local wisdom which recently began eroded by the progress of the times.

In closing, I honestly wanted to meet Dorothy Tan. Anyone can help?

*) This article also published in my Bahasa Indonesia blog (Kompasiana)