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UNICEF / PHILIPPINES
STORY: UNICEF / PHILIPPINES
TRT: 1.29
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DATELINE: 2 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY / 30 SEPTEMBER 2009, COPENHAGEN DENMARK / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNICEF Headquarters
2 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes:
“The combination of factors, even though they might not be linked, is quite extraordinary, because the geography is huge in this part of the world, but it means that we have to respond to all of this at the same time.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2009, COPENHAGEN DENMARK
3. Wide shot, supply warehouse Copenhagen
2 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes:
“The nature of some of these disasters is larger that what the country can respond to in the first place. That creates a challenge for the organization, but let me say, in countries like in the Philippines or Indonesia; the level of preparedness is very good; the capacity of the government on the ground is also very, very good. They have seen earthquakes and cyclones in the past and they’ve got much better in being prepared with early warning systems and so forth. And UNICEF has been part in supporting the government to be better prepared for all of these natural disasters.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2009, COPENHAGEN DENMARK
5. Wide shot, supply warehouse Copenhagen
2 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes:
“For us this means that we are triggering a response which is larger than the country. The regional office is very much involved, headquarters is very much involved, and we are deploying resources, human resources and also financial resources globally to ensure that the response is appropriate, and that’s true both for Indonesia and the Philippines.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2009, COPENHAGEN DENMARK
7. Wide shot, supply warehouse Copenhagen
More than 200 people have died and almost two million people, including an estimated one million children, have been affected by floods and landslides around the Philippines capital, Manila.
At the same time, United Nations emergency personnel in Indonesia’s province of West Sumatra Indonesia’s province of West Sumatra are mobilizing to prevent the outbreak of epidemic diseases and get children back to school two days after a massive earthquake killed at least 1,100 people, trapped and injured many thousands more, and destroyed numerous buildings.
SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes:
“The combination of factors, even though they might not be linked, is quite extraordinary, because the geography is huge in this part of the world, but it means that we have to respond to all of this at the same time.”
UNICEF has been distributing pre-positioned emergency supplies, including both food and non-food items. Meanwhile, 90,000 packs of water-purification tablets and 650 water-purification kits have been shipped from UNICEF’s main supply warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, to aid displaced families who do not have access to safe water.
The Philippines government has declared a state of emergency and called for international assistance to address the immediate needs and help plan and prepare for any further storms—two are forecast in next couple of days.
SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes:
“The nature of some of these disasters is larger that what the country can respond to in the first place. That creates a challenge for the organization, but let me say, in countries like in the Philippines or Indonesia; the level of preparedness is very good; the capacity of the government on the ground is also very, very good. They have seen earthquakes and cyclones in the past and they’ve got much better in being prepared with early warning systems and so forth. And UNICEF has been part in supporting the government to be better prepared for all of these natural disasters”
UNICEF is working closely with the Philippine government to respond swiftly and effectively to the crisis and will finance these efforts with a joint flash appeal in which it will ask for around $3.5 million.
The main needs are for non-food items such as shelter material, blankets, water, and water purification kits, hygiene kits, drugs, nutrition support, and vaccines.
SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes:
“For us this means that we are triggering a response which is larger than the country. The regional office is very much involved, headquarters is very much involved, and we are deploying resources, human resources and also financial resources globally to ensure that the response is appropriate, and that’s true both for Indonesia and the Philippines.”
In Indonesia UNICEF is working with the Government and other UN agencies to aid up to 50,000 families with water pumps, water storage equipment, 40,000 jerry cans and 40,000 hygiene kits, as well as supplying 250 school tents, schools-in-a-box and recreational kits to help children re-establish a sense of normalcy after the tragedy. These initial supplies are expected to reach the quake zone in the next 24 hours.
According to initial Government estimates, Wednesday’s quake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes in the coastal provincial capital of Padang and surrounding highlands. Access to the affected area is limited due to the availability of only a single airstrip.
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