PAKISTAN / FLOODS UPDATE

Access to clean water remains the biggest concern in Pakistan more than two months after the devastating floods which washed away nearly two million homes and impacted the lives of 20 million people. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:07
• Production Date: 8 October 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: PAKISTAN
• MAMS Id: U101008b

Description

STORY: PAKISTAN / FLOOD UPDATE
TRT: 2.07
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SINDHI / NATS

DATELINE: 1 OCTOBER 2010, THATTA, PAKISTAN

Shotlist

1. Pan right, tented area
2. Wide shot, aerial shot of flooded areas
3. Wide shot, damaged house surrounded by water
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Raabya Amjad, Communications for Development Specialist, UNICEF Pakistan:
“The needs of the people affected are many. But right now we need to focus on safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, because without these there is a serious danger of diseases spreading.”
5. Pan left, car to water filtration system
6. Pan right, water filtration system to people getting water
7. Med shot, backs of women carrying water on their heads
8. Pan right, water pump pumping water
9. Med shot, plastic water storage container with people getting water
10. SOUNDBITE (English), Raabya Amjad, Communications for Development Specialist, UNICEF Pakistan:
“The emergency is far from over. The flood waters in some areas are still rising but in the area where we are right now, Thatta, the flood waters hit last month and people have started going back.”
11. Wide shot, camp city
12. Med shot, woman carrying water on head
13. Wide shot, mother washing child on dusty earth
14. Close up, little boys with flies all over him
15. Med shot, woman giving water to her children
16. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi), Shazia, Mother:
“Our house and the land where we lived are still covered with water up to here (points to her shoulder). Everything was washed away with the water; our crops and our animals, everything.”
17. Wide shot, people with water tanks
18. Med shot, low angle, water being filled into tank, children in background
19. Med shot, low angle, water being filled into tanks
20. Med shot, women walking with water containers on head
21. Close up, mother fans her sleeping baby

Storyline

In the wake of the devastating floods in Pakistan, which washed away nearly two million homes and impacted the lives of 20 million people just a few weeks ago, today what is needed most is clean water.

SOUNDBITE (English) Raabya Amjad, Communications for Development Specialist, UNICEF Pakistan:
“The needs of the people affected are many. But right now we need to focus on safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, because without these there is a serious danger of diseases spreading.”

In Thatta, UNICEF and its partners have set up a water filtration site to clean water from a local canal and are now providing clean water for up to four thousand affected families. Women and girls often walk one or two kilometres several times a day to get water. The filtration plant also distributes clean water to three large water bladders – huge plastic sacks used to store the clean water and strategically placed throughout the camp.

SOUNDBITE (English), Raabya Amjad, Communication for Development Specialist, UNICEF Pakistan:
“The emergency is far from over. The flood waters in some areas are still rising but in the area where we are right now, Thatta, the flood waters hit last month and people have started going back.”

But for many there is little to go back to; the sprawling camps surrounding the town of Thatta are their makeshift homes for now. The land is dusty and strewn with rubbish, flies are everywhere and the heat is suffocating.

Shazia is a twenty-two year old mother of five who came to this camp in Thatta with her husband and children more than a month ago.

SOUNDBITE (Sindhi), Shazia, Mother:
“Our house and the land where we lived are still covered with water up to here (points to her shoulder). Everything was washed away with the water; our crops and our animals, everything.”

Across the flood-affected areas of Pakistan, UNICEF and its partners are now reaching over 3.8 million people with safe water every day. But as the flood waters recede, funds are drying up. Only half of the money UNICEF needs to sustain its efforts over the next 12 months has been received and still more is urgently needed to stave off a potential second wave of suffering.