WFP / PAKISTAN REAX

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes says that the offices in Pakistan are closed throughout the country but the operations on the ground are continuing. UNTV / WFP / FILE

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:45
• Production Date: 6 October 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: NUTRITION; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: PAKISTAN
• MAMS Id: U091006c

Description

STORY: WFP / PAKISTAN REAX
SOURCE: UNTV / WFP
TRT: 1.45
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 6 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY / 5 OCTOBER 2009, ROME, ITALY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN building

6 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Yes the UN offices in Islamabad are currently closed, sort of the public entrance as it were as a result of the suicide attack on the World Food Programme office, but that doesn’t mean work has ceased. People are working from home; critical staff will be moving around as much as they can in Islamabad, and the operations on the ground have not ceased at all. They continue as before using international staff, national staff, local NGOs. We refuse to be deterred by these kinds of attacks.”
4. Wide shot, dais

FILE - WFP - 4 JUNE 2009, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

5. Various shots, unloading food aid at Islamabad Airport

5 OCTOBER 2009, ROME, ITALY

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Josette Sheeran, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP):
“Right now we’re doing all we can to make sure that those who have survived are getting proper treatment, and we will continue our lifeline to the ten million people in Pakistan that rely on the World Food Programme. We call on the world however to stand by humanitarian workers at this time of great outrage and tragedy, not only for the families and those who have lost their lives but also for the hundred million people throughout the world that rely on the World Food Programme lifeline to be able to survive day to day.”

FILE - WFP - 3-4 JUNE 2009, PIRPAI, NOWSHERA DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

7. Various shots, food distribution WFP Logistic Base

Storyline

UN officials unanimously condemned Monday’s suicide attack against the office of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Pakistan in which five staff members were killed and several – some of whom are in a critical condition – were injured.

Today (6 October) Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes pointed out that although the UN offices in Islamabad remain outwardly closed, “that doesn’t mean work has ceased”. He said that Islamabad based staff are finding ways to continue their work, while “operations on the ground have not ceased at all.”

The Emergency Relief Coordinator stressed that WFP and other relief organizations “refuse to be deterred by these kinds of attacks.”

Yesterday (5 October) in Rome, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, said that the priority was “doing all we can to make sure that those who have survived are getting proper treatment” as well as to “continue our lifeline to the ten million people in Pakistan that rely on the World Food Programme”.

WFP is providing vital food assistance to as many as ten million people across Pakistan, including emergency relief to as many as two million Pakistani civilians who were displaced by conflict in the Swat Valley region earlier this year.

The agency also supports school meal programs and targets food assistance at vulnerable groups of people across the country.