Dan Rivers: CNN's Asian front

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He was one the first outsiders to reach the tsunami-stricken Aceh province when the disaster unfolded. CNN reporter Dan Rivers came back this year to witness the new beginnings of a community almost wiped out five years ago.

“It was a mix of emotions. Coming back and seeing how much has been rebuilt is uplifting in a way. I was rather pessimistic earlier but it turned out quite a lot had been achieved,” said the Bangkok-based foreign correspondent.

“Banda Aceh now, compared to 2005, has been transformed, with a new hospital, schools and 140,000 houses. You can see how much the aid money has helped to give the economy a real boost and people a chance to start over,” he added.

“What has been done is not perfect, but it’s a lot better than what people predicted years ago.”

In a new documentary scheduled to air on Dec. 26, Rivers revisited the mass graves and destroyed city, with serendipity leading him to a pregnant survivor he interviewed the first time he came to Aceh.

Earlier this month, Rivers met Fitrie, a woman who was three-month pregnant and like so many other survivors, miraculously lived through probably the most catastrophic event of the 21st century.

“It was a real fluke. I found the same translator I had used before and he remembered where she lived,” he recalled.

“When we initially went back to her house, everything was destroyed. Now there are new roads and everything is so difficult to recognize. Then, as we stopped and asked for her at a shop, her brother passed. The guy at the shop said “Ah, that’s her brother!”

So we called her brother and followed him back to their house. It’s a kind of serendipity. Out all of the shops we just happened to stop at the one her brother passed.”

He might humbly call it a stroke of luck. But, in his line of duty, that kind of serendipity does not come without persistence. And to get where he is – being one of the region’s top foreign correspondent, persistence is his secret ingredient.

Reporting from places destroyed by natural disasters requires more than just being tough. And sometimes it’s impossible to maintain journalistic distance in events like the tsunami.

“If you’re seeing horrible destruction and suffering, it’s impossible not to empathize with the people.

What was difficult about the tsunami and what’s difficult about covering natural disasters in general, is that you are living the story 24 hours a day,” Rivers explained.

“You’re often camping out in the middle of the rubble. You’re there all day long. It’s not like you can retreat to a nice hotel to get out.

“But, in some respect, it’s really important to have that level of immersion. It makes you understand what the people are going through and hopefully you can convey it in a report, which will have a greater effect in showing the government and aid agencies what is needed.”

For Rivers, having his wife by his side helped him cope with seeing children’s dead bodies scattered around, corpses being thrown into mass graves and people losing their homes and in a way, their lives.

“It helped that she was there and went through everything I went through. I feel lucky that I don’t have flash backs of everything.”

The tsunami reportage was his first major breakthrough and ever since, Rivers has passionately covered Asia, a region he calls fascinating.

In 2008, he went to Sichuan to cover the Chinese earthquake. His also led an exclusive investigation into the case of Rohingya refugees set adrift by the Thai navy. The story won him the prestigious Amnesty International Media award.

Rivers was also back in Indonesia to report on the Yogyakarta and Padang earthquakes.

“The tsunami was the first big story I covered in Asia and afterwards, I felt I wanted to be based in this region somehow, covering that part of the world.”

“It [this part of the world] is dynamic and vibrant. There’s no danger of running out of stories here.”

It’s perhaps true that Asia is one of Western correspondents’ favorite regions, with a multitude of political upheavals, a never-ending list of natural disasters and a culture deemed exotic enough to report on, on the lighter side of the news business.

Rivers is perhaps the typical passionate journalist. One with an inquisitive mind that will always search for the answers.

“The kind of overarching thing is asking why something has happened, why it happened in that way, and whether it can be changed.”

Journalism has been Rivers’ passion since his school days. He went from being an editor in Durham University in the UK, to working for local radio station Pirate FM. From there, he freelanced for the London News Network, reported for France’s EuroNews and later became the crime correspondent for Britain’s ITV News.

Rivers joined CNN in April 2006 and has since reported on natural disasters, closely followed the Phnom Penh trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, and tracked down the chief interrogator of the S-21 prison camp.

“This is my dream job. A foreign correspondent with a fairly interesting patch, covering a wide scope of countries and issues,” he said.

But, despite seeming dedicated to his profession, Rivers refuses to be a journalist 24 hours a day.

“I have a baby daughter. Now, I’m a dad 24 hours a day. I think it’s important to have some time to switch off and do something else because reporting can consume your entire life,” he explained.

Yet, despite having in a way settle down, his thirst for “adventure” has not been quenched.

“Next year I’m possibly off to Afghanistan and Thailand to cover human trafficking and forced labor.”