Colombia. The inhabitants of the areas surrounding the Nevado del Ruiz volcano have four new Public Interest stations for Attention and Prevention of Disasters that were authorized by the ICT Ministry with the aim of providing the community with communication channels that facilitate prevention, attention and recovery actions before a possible eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
The municipalities that were granted licenses to provide the broadcasting service were Casabianca, Murillo, Villahermosa and Santa Isabel, in the department of Tolima; the first three declared at high risk by the National Risk Management Unit.
"With the entry into operation of these stations we are giving the people of the region the possibility of receiving timely information about the state of emergency of the volcano, the recommendations of the attention agencies and instructions that will be key to avoid a disaster and safeguard lives, which is our priority," said the ICT minister, Mauricio Lizcano.
The licenses of the stations, which will operate in Frequency Modulation (FM) or Amplitude Modulation (AM), were issued in record time, taking into account the importance of the service they will provide and the declaration of orange alert for the emergency. In a joint work with the National Spectrum Agency, the procedure could be advanced in less than a week.
The concession licenses of the four stations were requested by the mayors of the municipalities and they will be responsible for their management, administration and programming that should revolve around issues related to the emergency by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
The stations may operate as long as the declaration of disaster or calamity situation is maintained in the municipalities where they operate, time that may be extended, provided that the need to have such a communication channel for the recovery stage of an eventual emergency is sustained.
In addition to these four stations, it is expected to deliver the broadcasting license to Herveo, also in Tolima. The ICT Ministry continues to wait for the documentation required by the municipality.
