HAITI / PREVAL

Haitian President René Garcia Préval surveys the damage from the air caused by Tuesday's massive earthquake that struck the capital Port-au-Prince and neighboring areas.

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:37
• Production Date: 15 January 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
• Geographic Subject: HAITI; UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION IN HAITI - MINUSTAH
• MAMS Id: U100115j

Description

STORY: HAITI/ PRÉVAL
TRT: 1.37
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE/ NATS

DATELINE: 15 JANUARY 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

Shotlist

1. Med shot, MINUSTAH helicopter taking Préval on aerial views of country
2. Wide shot, aerial destroyed National Palace
3. Wide shot, aerial destroyed UN headquarters
3. Wide shot, aerial destroyed neighborhood
4. SOUNDBITE (Creole) René Garcia Préval, President of Haiti :
"The priority is to put MINUSTAH and the government back into a functional state. We've seen that the UN headquarters collapsed. The Head of the UN Mission and his deputy and many of their staff are dead."
5. MS: detail of UN helicopter (cutaway)
6. SOUNDBITE (Creole) René Garcia Préval, President of Haiti:
"The second priority is to clear the roads so we can get help to the people. And I believe the third priority is to sanitize the area. There are thousands of cadavers that causing risks of epidemics. We have to - and we have already started to - take those bodies away."
7. Med shot, Préval entering the UN aviation hangar which is serving as a warehouse for humanitarian aid
8. Wide shot, Chilean peacekeepers unloading food and medications donated by the Chilean government
9. Med shot, President Préval inspecting boxes of medicines
10. Wide shot, Préval discussing strategy with UN aid workers
11. Med shot, UN aid worker pan to UN Acting Chief of UN Mission (SRSG) Edmond Mulet
12. Wide shot, Chilean peacekeepers unloading food and meds donated by the Chilean government

Storyline

Haitian President René Garcia Préval today (15 January) surveyed the damage from the air caused by Tuesday’s massive earthquake that struck the capital Port-au-Prince and neighboring areas.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake is said to have affected one-third of Haiti’s 9-million strong population. Many of the people in the hard-hit capital, Port-au-Prince, do not have access to food, water, shelter and electricity.

Préval stressed that the priority was to get his government as well as the UN Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) back on their feet, and speculated that the top UN official in Haiti, Hédi Annabi and his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa who are trapped in the rubble of the Mission’s Headquarters, are already dead.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) René Garcia Préval, President of Haiti:
"The priority is to put MINUSTAH and the government back into a functional state. We've seen that the UN headquarters collapsed. The Head of the UN Mission and his deputy and many of their staff are dead."

The President pointed out that clearing the roads in order to be able to deliver aid and burying the dead are priorities as well.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) René Garcia Préval, President of Haiti:
"The second priority is to clear the roads so we can get help to the people. And I believe the third priority is to sanitize the area. There are thousands of cadavers that causing risks of epidemics. We have to - and we have already started to - take those bodies away."

This afternoon, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke by phone with the Haitian President and assured him the UN was fully mobilized to bring aid. Préval said the biggest problem was coordinating all the aid efforts and he would discuss the issue with Ban’s acting Special Representative in Haiti Edmond Mulet.