Afghan Radio Station Builds Sound Alliance

Days after a deadly earthquake rumbled through northern Afghanistan, many in Orange County’s Afghan community turned to Radio Payam-E-Afghan for news. Station operator Omar Khatab did not fail.

He began broadcasting a live report of disaster conditions from an Afghan correspondent in the area. Afterward, “people were calling in and weeping on the phone,” Khatab said. “We have a very close community as a whole. We were all devastated by the news.”

Khatab has been a central part of that community because of his 6-year-old show, the only radio program of its kind for Afghans in Southern California.

Last weekend, he and other leaders used the program to broadcast a call to the community to organize relief donations for earthquake victims.

“With all the problems and turmoil in Afghanistan--we have struggled through wars and poverty--we have already suffered much,” said Khatab, who lives in Anaheim Hills. “This is another blow to the people.”

The earthquake, which measured 6.1 in magnitude, hit Rustaq, a remote rural district in the mountainous Takhar region on Feb. 4. Some 4,000 to 5,000 people are believed to have been killed, with an additional 40,000 people left homeless, according to the United Nations.

Entire villages crumbled or were buried under landslides, and subzero temperatures have added to the misery of survivors. International relief efforts have been hampered by snow, fog and impassable mountain roads.

Survivors are emerging with horrific tales of families submerged under an avalanche of rubble. And the 60,000-strong community of Afghans in Southern California are reeling from the news.

“I keep thinking about all the people, the children and the old ones, going through these hard times,” said Abdul Nowshad, 47, of Fountain Valley. “Everyone here has relatives in Afghanistan. It really affects us emotionally.”

What makes it more painful is the fact that few media outlets in the United States have even reported on the situation, said Ahmad Zaher, 30, of Irvine.

“There haven’t been many reports about it here,” he said. “That’s very sad. It’s like we’re a forgotten land. Five thousand people died . . . and no one talked about it.”

One of the few places the community has been able to turn to is Khatab’s radio show on Sundays.

From a small studio in Orange crammed with racks of cassettes and radio equipment, he airs his program from 3 to 4 p.m. He also broadcasts for three hours Sunday nights in Northern California, which has a community of 60,000 to 70,000 Afghans.

Aired on AM 1190, the show provides a mixture of religion and culture, politics and news from Afghanistan, combined with live, often long-distance interviews.

Khatab says he started the program in 1992 because “there was such a great need to have a source of impartial news for the community.”

Drawing on his radio experience in Afghanistan, Khatab set up shop in a tiny studio tucked in his business office. After six years, it has become the community’s main source for news about the ongoing political and military unrest in Afghanistan.

“On Sundays, we all gather around the radio, listening,” Zaher said. “Everyone is sitting around, hoping for good news.”

Khatab is well aware of the pivotal role he plays for many in the community, and he plans to use the show to spread the word about the various relief missions.

“We’ll try and coordinate with the help of the mosques to put together our effort,” he said. “This week, we’ll announce a fund-raising effort and also decide on a way to get the money back to Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, at local mosques, prayers have gone out for the victims. Once Afghan officials have accounted for all those who died, a special prayer ceremony will be held locally in their memory, said Mohamad Ebrahim, with the Jamaludeen Afghan Islamic Center in Orange.

“The community is very upset about this,” he said. “We are praying very hard.”