Holding a battered community together

The Columbia Journalism Review profiles Radio Muzaffarabad, a Pakistani station hard-hit by last October's 7.6 earthquake. The station was back on air 15 days after the quake, which took a heavy toll on the staff: "Of its 115 employees, three were killed in the quake and forty-two others quit, too grief-stricken to stay on." Ayesha Akram writes:

It is now more than four months since the quake hit, and the station is the single, precarious thread that binds this wounded city of about half a million residents. More than just a source of news and information, Radio Muzaffarabad has been a way for people — most of whom are still living in tents — to talk to one another; it has helped families find missing loved ones, facilitated mourning, and inspired the desperate to persevere.