Thai media professionals participated in a two-day intensive workshop on climate change and disaster risk management, co-organized by the Public Relations Department (PRD), and the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) at the Public Relations Department (PRD).
Media professionals that attended took part in activities concerning the importance of communicating the varying climate trends that run throughout Thailand. In particular, there was discussion of what could be more effective methods to simplify technical knowledge so important information could be more understandable when spread through the media to the community.
Mr. Saqib Shiekh, AIBD’s Programme Manager, who took part in the workshop, said that the media must play a strong role. “We can’t be the only ones to make the public aware, ” he said. “That’s the job of the media. We are interpreters between those in the disaster fields and in the science fields, and we take what we know and we try to educate the public about that. We hope the media can get the message and understand that they have a role to save lives and to keep people safe. So there are a lot of things to be done.”
Besides concentrating on natural disasters, those at the workshop also encouraged broadcasters to become more aware of man-made disasters that could be prevented. For example, there is a strong relationship between human activity and the effects that help creating climate change. So it is very important for the media to let the public realize how they could help assist mitigate the problems to ensure the health of the planet with a lighter footprint.
