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GA / PAKISTAN WRAP
STORY: GA / PAKISTAN WRAP
TRT: 5.01
SOURCE: UNTV/ OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 19 AUGUST 2010, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN building
19 AUGUST 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly
3. Wide shot, podium
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“Pakistan is facing a slow-motion tsunami. Its destructive power will accumulate and grow with time. I have discussed this harsh reality with President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani. We fully agree on what must be done. International humanitarian organizations are straining every muscle to deliver. But they need massive additional support.”
5. Zoom out Pakistani delegation
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“In the media, we hear talk of so called fatigue. There are suggestions that governments are reluctant to cope with yet another disaster; that they hesitate to contribute more to this part of the world. But let us remember: if anyone should be fatigued, it is the ordinary people I met in Pakistan – women, children and small farmers, tired of troubles, conflict and hardship.”
7. Pan left, audience
8. Wide shot, Clinton walking to the podium
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Secretary of State:
“I want to state our resolve to help Pakistan meet the immediacy of this crisis and then to recover from it. I want the people of Pakistan to know that the United States will stand with you during this crisis. We will be with you as rivers rise and fall; we will be with you as you replant your fields and repair your roads; we will be with you as you meet the long term challenges to build a stronger nation and a better future.”
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan:
“Our immediate challenge is to meet the food and health and clean drinking water needs of the millions displaced and to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed by floods. Mr. President, our difficulties do not end here. Our urban infrastructure will come under severe stress as millions of people migrate to bigger cities in search of shelter and jobs. Another serious problem with long-term socio-economic implications is the loss of land and potential decline in the arability of flood affected lands. The food security of the sixth most populous country in the world is at risk.”
11. Pan right, audience
12. Zoom in, Secretary-General meeting with Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
13. Tracking shot, Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Secretary of State
14. Med shot, Secretary-General meeting with Lawrence Cannon Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada
15. Med shot, Clinton meeting with Qureshi
FILE – 16 AUGUST 2010, PAKISTAN
16. Various shots, Secretary-General arriving in Pakistan and meeting with officials
17. Various shots, Secretary-General meeting flood victims
18. Various shots, Secretary-General surveying damage from the air
Speaker after speaker took the floor at a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly today (19 August) to call for global solidarity to help flood-hit Pakistan in the wake of the country’s worst disaster in living memory and for generous support for vital relief operations.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the 192-member body that Pakistan is facing a “slow-motion tsunami” with needs expected to grow, even as 15 to 20 million people currently need shelter, food and emergency care.
He pointed out that at least 160,000 square kilometres of land is under water – an area larger than more than half the countries of the world.
Underscoring that the needs are great, and the disaster is far from over, he asked nations to respond urgently to the emergency response plan and help humanitarian agencies deliver the food, water, shelter and health care that millions in Pakistan so desperately need.
Ban, who visited the flood-stricken country on Sunday, commented on media suggestions of donor fatigue and said that “if anyone should be fatigued, it is the ordinary people I met in Pakistan – women, children and small farmers, tired of troubles, conflict and hardship.”
The Secretary-General thanked the international community for the generosity it has shown so far, especially in response to the $460 million requested by the UN and its partners through the Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan that was launched last week, which is now 47 per cent funded.
The General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for international assistance in support of the Government’s efforts to address the crisis.
More than 45 speakers, including high-level officials from a number of countries, addressed the meeting, which took place on World Humanitarian Day, dedicated to the memory of all those aid workers who have lost their lives while bringing assistance to others, and to increase awareness of relief activities worldwide.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton affirmed her country’s “resolve to help Pakistan meet the immediacy of this crisis and then to recover from it”. She assured Pakistanis that the United States will stand with them during this crisis saying that “we will be with you as rivers rise and fall; we will be with you as you replant your fields and repair your roads; we will be with you as you meet the long term challenges to build a stronger nation and a better future.”
Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the Assembly that the
immediate challenge “is to meet the food and health and clean drinking water needs of the millions displaced and to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed by floods” but added that difficulties will mount “as millions of people migrate to bigger cities in search of shelter and jobs” and pointed out the socio-economic implications of the loss of land and potential decline in the arability of flood affected lands.
He said that “the food security of the sixth most populous country in the world is at risk.”
The floods, which began late last month in the wake of particularly heavy monsoon rains and which have destroyed homes, farmland and major infrastructure in large parts of the country, have claimed more than 1,200 lives.
Earlier today UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Mogwanja warned that if humanitarian assistance for clean water, food, shelter and health care is not provided soon enough, there could be a second wave of deaths caused by waterborne diseases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also urged greater donor support for health projects in Pakistan, where more than 200 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, adding that reports from the field already indicate a significant rise in the number of cases of acute watery diarrhoea, skin infections and malaria.
Mogwanja noted that a food crisis is also possible given that thousands of hectares of crops which were due to be harvested in the next four weeks in most parts of the country have now been destroyed. It is therefore vital for food aid to reach those affected as soon as possible.
In the longer-term, he added, it will be necessary to assist in rebuilding livelihoods as well as public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, telecommunications, power lines and irrigation canals.
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