In Australia, we’re used to natural disasters like floods and cyclones. On rare occasions, maybe an earthquake.

But, happily, we’re devoid of volcanoes and are unlikely to experience the fearsome crisis Hawaiian residents are facing right now.

“This is Mother Nature at her most powerful,” says Aussie expat Keith Fowler, who manages The Wave @92FM and 102.7 The Beach on Hawaii’s Big Island for their Australian owners Resonate Broadcasting.

“Without undervaluing the hardship some residents of the Big Island are suffering,” says Keith, “it’s worth noting that the current activity is confined to a 20 kilometre by about 3 kilometre area and about 4,000 residents (a couple of thousand of whom have been evacuated) of the 200,000 total population.” 

“Everyone here is concerned but no one is panicking. No one exactly knows what’s going to happen next even though the experts have historical precedence to go on from activity in the 80’s, 50’s and 20’s. Still, nobody really knows.

We made a conscious decision to not focus on the “destruction” but on the community aspect.

Keith says that official information is tightly controlled. “They will not talk to the local media outside of the official briefings. They are being careful to keep the narrative accurate and focussed. We’ve talked to as many people as we could find through our contacts including to management people at the Volcanoes National Park.”

Although The Wave and The Beach studios are safely based in Hilo, about 35 kilometres from the affected area that didn’t prevent them going off air as a consequence of the eruptions.

“The 6.9 richter earthquake took us and three of our competitors of the air for awhile. It snapped the coax transmission line from the transmitter to the tower. Once we got it repaired we’ve been on air covering changes in the situation as they occur,” says Keith Fowler.