Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 12

Participants at a worship today highlighted the role of media in disseminating pre-disaster information to the public to mitigate the possible loss of lives and property should at a natural disaster occurs.

The participating journalists accused the government authorities of hesitating to provide information on disaster to the the journalists. They also accused the government information of being inaccurate or incomplete.

Some of the journalists said that the government is not interested in providing relief to the victims. "In this condition, the journalists too cannot help the victims by news reporting," said a participant representing a daily newspaper. Shiva B Pradhananga, chairman of National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) said that the disaster cannot be mitigated without the support of media persons.

"Due to the information disseminated on disaster and disaster mitigation measures, local communities have developed a positive attitude on the need of precautions," he added. Naresh Nakarmi of NSET and Shreeram Singh Basnet of RSS said that awareness would be a great weapon in mitigating the possible loss of lives and property during disasters.