A voice of hope continues to blanket the city of Bukavu and the eastern part of the Democratic of Congo (D.R.C.) after a pair of earthquakes rocked the region on Sunday, Feb. 3, killing at least 46 people, including 10 who were attending church services.
Though the quake left hundreds injured and thousands homeless in the D.R.C. as well as neighboring Rwanda, Radio Kahuzi, HCJB Global Voice's partner station in Bukavu, suffered only minor damage.
Richard McDonald, a missionary who serves at Radio Kahuzi with his wife, Kathy, was making a last-minute check of the radio equipment, preparing to leave for church, when the category-6.0 quake struck at 9:30 a.m. local time. "The very heavy rack supporting the transmitters began rocking violently from side to side," McDonald explained.
"I tried to wrestle it to a stop and switched off the power, waiting for just less than a minute for the quake to finish."Danny Magadju, our journalist in training, powered down the studio and we exited for safety. No equipment was damaged, so we cautiously went back on the air," McDonald explained. Since then the broadcasts have been interrupted only occasionally by brief power outages.
"We continue to share good news with the listeners and what we know about the state of affairs and relay the news live concerning the day-to-day situation. The governor and seismographic experts are giving good counsel to the population via Radio Kahuzi."
McDonald added that engineers are keeping a close eye on two nearby hydroelectric dams that already had cracks and may have suffered further damage in the temblors. "But we are on the air as normal thus far," he said. "We will also continue with shortwave broadcasts from 6 to 10 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, reaching as far as Johannesburg, South Africa. We can also cover the eastern half of the D.R.C. and Rwanda with a good strong signal."
(if local time then -2 hrs for UTC, WRTH 2008: 6210 kHz http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CG/12/Bukavu.html
yes, UTC +2 hrs )
Earthquakes are not unusual in the western Great Rift Valley-a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. In 1994 a magnitude-6 tremor in the foothills of western Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains killed at least six people. In 1966 a magnitude-7 earthquake killed 157 people and injured more than 1,300 in the Semliki Valley, also in western Uganda.
HCJB Global has been reaching out to listeners with the claims of Christ for more than 75 years via short-wave radio, local FM radio and now satellite radio and the Internet.
Press Release - HCJB Global Partner Radio Station in Congo Encourages
Residents After Quakes
Contact Colin Lowther Tel 01274 721810
e-mail clowther@hcjb.org.uk Web www.hcjb.org.uk>
(via Dr. Hansjoerg Biener-D, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 6)
(Source: BC-DX #846/WWDXC Top News, wb, Germany)