Child reporters make a difference in Van

VAN - Radikal

Among the topics students report on are tent fires and living in container cities after the 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

An Ankara-based non-governmental organization (NGO) has started a project called “The Young Voice of Erciş,” an internet-based journal prepared by young reporters from Erciş, the epicenter of last year’s devastating earthquake in the eastern province of Van.

The Sabancı Foundation featured the project on its web-based program “Change Makers” in November, which aims “to promote social development, awareness and active citizenship.”

Child reporters

Young reporters between the ages of 12 and 18 narrate stories from their native Erciş using a camera provided to them by “The Agenda is Children!,” an NGO from Ankara that works to promote children’s rights. The children also plan to turn the journal into a weekly and transform a truck that has been donated to the project into a “Child Media Center,” according to reports.

Among the topics students report are tent fires and living in container cities after the earthquake.
The “Young Voice of Erciş” can be accessed through its blog at www.ercisingencsesi.blogspot.com, at www.farkyaratanlar.org, and on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Van province on Oct. 23, 2011, followed by repeated aftershocks. Some 604 people were killed, another 4,152 were wounded, and thousands were rendered homeless by the earthquake.Since then, the city has been shaken by many minor earthquakes.

Around 1,000 people are still living in 290 tents across four sites, a Deputy Prime Minister Atalay recently said adding that they will soon be located to container homes.