SECTION II

Q. 1: Collect two front pages of English Dailies dated Dec 27, 28

& 29.Describe within about 300 words how the Tsunami
disaster was reported: i.e.

I. The main news

II. Rescue Operations
III. Reactions of the survivors and eyewitnesses
IV. Anguish of relatives
V. Aid and relief

A. 1. Newspapers selected: The Hindu; The Times of India.

 The main news: The Tsunami disaster that struck India
and other nations were very well reported by both the
papers. Both the newspapers had headlines that will strike
a chord in emotions of the reader. The main news covered
all the information of top priority i.e. The place where the
earthquake occurred, what was the reason that the
tsunami occurred, time of the quake, the epicenter,
magnitude of the quake in the Ritcher scale, the number of
people killed, number of injured, number of bodies
recovered, the places most affected, hospitals injured were
taken to, the rescue operations. Both the newspapers had
photographs on their front-pages which reflected how
devastating the tsunami was. The front pages included
description of death tolls; maps which could make the
reader understand the situation better. Most people did not
know what tsunami is since it is not something that occurs
frequently, keeping that in mind the newspapers has had
small capsules of information of what the Tsunami really
is, history of past tsunamis occurred (TOI) Such
information made the article more interesting to read. The
following days the newspapers had updates of the death
tolls, testimony of the survivors, families of victims and the
rescue and relief operation that are been taken into
consideration.
 Rescue Operations: The rescue operations taken up by
the government officials, and navy were given a lot of
importance in the newspapers. Most of the topics that
were covered included:
 i. The government gearing up the official machinery to
carry out rescue operations.
ii. Report of the state government requesting help of
the armed forces in the rescue and relief operations
iii. The navy ships joining the rescue efforts
iv. Aircrafts and helicopters of the Air force and several
100 army troops participating in finding the dead and
injured.
v. The names of government and navy officials in
charge of the rescue operation and efforts taken by
them.

 Reactions of survivors and eyewitnesses: Both TOI and

the Hindu had testimonials of the survivors and eyewitnesses
of the Tsunami disaster. Photographs of survivors and
eyewitnesses were shown which had emotional element
attached to it. For Instance the article of TOI dated Dec 28 th -
Shows the photograph of an eight year old killed in Tsunami
and his parents crying for him.
Dec 29th TOI shows the photograph of a boy who lost his
parents looks out of a plane window and his grandmother
weeps. Reported by means of interviews is the situation of
the survivors and the families of victims whose lives have
changed after the disaster, the phase they are going through
identifying the dead bodies of their loved ones.

 Anguish of relatives: The disaster has changed the life of

thousands on Dec 26th destroying their homes and taking
away their loved ones. The newspapers have reported the
anguish of relatives in a manner that the reader can actually
imagine how difficult the situation has become for most
people in India and the world where the tsunami hit.i.e.-
Things like the families of victims waiting outside the hospital
in a queue to identify their loved ones and take away their
bodies.
THE HINDU dated Dec 27th– Headlines-‘Heart trending
scenes in the hospital’- portrays how pitiful the situation has
become of the relatives of victims and the victims who
managed to survive, they do not know where to go? What to
do? Will they find their dead family members? How long will it
take? An incident is mentioned where a family brings back its
dead breadwinner to the morgue because there was too much
water in its house, such bitter truth can only make the reader
imagine what these people must be going through.
 Aid and relief: Aid and relief provided to affected areas in
India, Srilanka and Indonesia were reported from time to
time.
It included the following updates:
o The Aid and relief provided to Andaman Nicobar islands
where the armed forces and civilian agencies took up
the massive rescue and relief operations looking for
survivors along the coastline, rushing food, clothes and
medicines to the thousands displaced.

o Updates on the efforts that The Chief minister of Tamil

Nadu, Jayalalitha was taking for the aid and relief of the
victims.

o The ministers visit to the affected areas and providing

assurance to the victims, also ministers and
businessman making contributions for tsunami victims.

o The water supply restored

o Relief and rehabilitation work: The efforts made by

the central government-announcement that the banks
and financial institutions would provide loans on easy
terms to the survivors of the tsunami catastrophe to
rebuild their lives.

o Aid provided to Srilanka,Maldives

o NABARD: The efforts of NABARD to provide a credit

package for the rehabilitation of people affected in
India.
o The donation of the ministers to the relief fund.