Not only responsibility but also sharing

Faced with the complicated developments of the flood situation in recent days, the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) has actively propagated and contributed to warning people to proactively respond to rain, floods, and landslides. On radio waves, electronic newspapers, etc., VOV reporters and journalists have returned to localities to maintain the fastest updates on the situation of natural disaster prevention, especially in areas cut off and isolated by storms and floods, and mountainous areas.

Despite heavy rain and floods making travel difficult, VOV journalists and reporters still set out to do their jobs. Photo: NVCC

Journalist Luu Van Luan - a reporter for the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) stationed in the Northeast region is busier than ever these days. He is in charge of information and propaganda in Bac Kan and Cao Bang provinces, two of the mountainous localities that are often affected by heavy rains and storms. Like before, in this stormy season, it has become a professional reflex to always listen to information from the grassroots, colleagues and social media platforms.

Journalist Luu Van Luan shared: "From the morning of September 9, when we first received news about floods and landslides, we were a bit "panic" because there was too much information on Zalo, Facebook... even in areas where there were reports of accidents due to landslides, the signal was weak, so it was very difficult to verify the information. There was too much information about floods and landslides coming at the same time. All important information, we determined that the information on social networks was only initial. The problem was how to continuously update so that people could see the urgency of the problem, but at the same time, the information was not to make people panic and worry, which was necessary."

He was fortunate to be in charge of the area at that time, so he had contacts to contact the local authorities, which directly managed the area, from there verifying more information, considering this one of the reliable and accurate sources of information. At the same time, he recorded the actual scene, recorded images, and interviewed. He always had the motto "when it comes to news, it must be done quickly, promptly, but must be complete and accurate".

Like journalist Luu Van Luan, journalist Ngo Viet Trung (People's Army Newspaper) is one of the reporters present at many places that suffered damage during the flood season. In recent days, he has always been present at "hot spots" of storms and landslides. In Yen Bai province, after many days of carrying out his duties there, on the night of September 10, he was assigned to move to Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province, where a flash flood buried the entire Lang Nu village, home to 35 households and 128 people.

Police of Vu Minh commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province help people move their property. Photo: journalist Van Luan

For him and many colleagues at the People's Army Newspaper, during the rainy and flood days, they always need to be ready to go, anytime, anywhere. With continuous rain, floods, and landslides, during the hundreds of kilometers of travel to the landslide site, he and his colleagues had to constantly change vehicles and walk because motor vehicles could not reach them.

Many times he witnessed and recorded landslides, there were moments when houses were destroyed by rocks and soil. With the sense of responsibility of a journalist, through each photo, each news line, he also joined the search of the forces, attaching his emotions to each photo in the hope of sharing some part of the people's loss.

Journalist Ngo Viet Trung shared: “When working in storms, reporters’ preparation is the most important, which helps ensure safety and provide the earliest information to the agency. In addition, when storms occur, we should also pay attention to information about damage, especially the difficult lives of the people, the involvement of functional forces… risks and uncertainties can all happen, but as a news reporter, we still have to go to the field. However, getting information and images is difficult, sending them to the editorial office is even more difficult, many mountainous areas have power outages, unstable phone signals, and sometimes we have to find areas with 3G, 4G signals to be able to send news articles and photos to the editorial office.”

Journalist Ngo Viet Trung (People's Army Newspaper) working in flooded areas of Yen Bai province. Photo: NVCC

It can be said that working in flood-hit areas, it is difficult to describe all the difficulties and challenges that each reporter encounters. However, in our conversations with them, we still feel their dedication, their willingness to rush into hot spots and their desire to contribute a small part to the work of supporting disaster recovery. And from a certain perspective, the challenges from natural disasters also help journalists hone their knowledge and experience, overcome their own limits and become more mature.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tac-nghiep-trong-bao-lu-khong-chi-la-trach-nhiem-ma-con-la-su-se-chia-post311836.html