BBC World Service broadcasts special ‘lifeline’ programming for Haiti

BBC World Service will be broadcasting special lifeline programming for listeners in Haiti in the French, Spanish and English languages from tomorrow – Saturday 16 January.

Special programmes about the crisis will be broadcast this weekend between 12.00 and 13.00 GMT on shortwave on 11860 kHz (25 MB) and 9410 kHz (31 MB).  

The BBC is expecting the programmes will also be available on the local FM network via the BBC’s partner station, Radio Lumiere.

The special programmes will come from the BBC Afrique (French for Africa) and BBC Mundo (Spanish-language) networks, as well as BBC World Service’s flagship English-language news programme, Newshour.

Special programmes in Spanish and English were also broadcast today.

BBC World Service Director, Peter Horrocks, says: “This is a humanitarian crisis on a huge scale, and good quality information is a vital but scarce commodity there. So far, we’ve had lots of information from the country by Skype and Twitter. So we’ll be using the same tools to inform people that we are broadcasting these special services as well as the NGOs on the ground, websites and any other means possible.”