MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In the shadow of Indonesia's highly active Mount Merapi, traditional community radio networks are being replaced by smartphones and social media for information about disasters. But there's a trade-off for faster warnings. Naina Rao has more.
NAINA RAO, BYLINE: On the slopes of Indonesia's Mount Merapi, farmer Mujianto unlocks a building he helped keep alive for years. Behind the rusted door is a dusty abandoned radio station that once helped villagers survive one of the world's most active volcanoes.
MUJIANTO: (Speaking Indonesian).
RAO: Mujianto points to the empty corners of the room, explaining that this used to be the main broadcast booth. In the early 2000s, government warnings often struggled to reach Merapi's remote mountain villages. So local farmers pooled their own money and built MMC FM - a community radio station - from scratch. It aired live reports from people working on the volcano slopes, like this one back in 2007.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Indonesian).
RAO: Today the station is silent. Its equipment broke during the pandemic, and volunteers couldn't afford repairs. But Mujianto says that's not the main reason it disappeared.
MUJIANTO: (Through interpreter) The culture has taken a complete 180-degree turn. Audiences today don't just want to listen to a voice on the radio. With digitalization, they now want visuals.
RAO: Research from the Reuters Institute shows Indonesians increasingly consume news through social media and video platforms now. So the community here traded the analog dial for the smartphone screen. But Mujianto worries about what happens when information is driven purely by algorithms.
MUJIANTO: (Through interpreter) On the old community radio frequencies, neighbors trusted the voices on the air because they knew the broadcasters were the very same farmers working the fields next to them. Digital platforms like Instagram or TikTok care about what goes viral, not necessarily what is true.
RAO: Mujianto says misleading posts, like old videos of past eruptions shared as if Merapi is erupting in real time, sometimes circulate online. Today, when he's not farming, Mujianto spends some time filtering rumors about Merapi online, cross-checking information with local authorities before forwarding verified updates to neighbors on WhatsApp groups. Those same groups are now central to Merapi's emergency procedures.
Neigen Saputra is the deputy head of the village preparedness team and helps coordinate evacuations in one of the villages closest to the crater. When the volcano's alert level rises, official warnings arrive through WhatsApp messages from the geological agency. They trigger a chain of actions by emergency workers and local officials, like Saputra.
NEIGEN SAPUTRA: (Through interpreter) Vulnerable residents are evacuated first, especially infants, pregnant women and the elderly.
RAO: If conditions worsen, Saputra says everyone closest to the crater will be evacuated. That's when he notes that not everybody has smartphones.
SAPUTRA: (Through interpreter) Some residents, especially the elderly, don't use social media. So announcements are made through loudspeakers that are usually used for the call to prayer from mosques.
RAO: For farmers like 80-year-old Ibu Temu (ph), she is one of the people those announcements are meant to reach. She doesn't have a smartphone because she doesn't know how to use it. She used to listen to MMC FM for eruption warnings. Now she relies on those loudspeakers and her neighbors to keep her informed. But she still turns on her radio every evening.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language).
IBU TEMU: (Speaking Indonesian).
RAO: She says ever since her son moved away, the music on the radio makes the house feel lively. The machine that was once a tool of physical survival has transitioned to an emotional one, helping her cope with the loneliness of living alone, and she has no plans of abandoning it.
For NPR News, I'm Naina Rao in Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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