HAITI / AMOS

On a two-day visit to Haiti, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos visited a camp for internally displaced people, cholera treatment centers and a new sanitation site funded by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). MINUSTAH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:04
• Production Date: 30 September 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: HAITI; UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION IN HAITI - MINUSTAH
• MAMS Id: U110930h

Description

STORY: HAITI / AMOS
TRT: 2.04
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTION: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / CREOLE / NATS

DATELINE: 29 SEPTEMBER 2011, PORT-AU-PRINCE, CROIX DES BOUQUETS, HAITI

Shotlist

29 SEPTEMBER 2011, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

1. Wide shot, Valerie Amos and delegation walking in IDP camp Acra
2. Med shot, Amos and camp manager walking and talking
3. Pan left, camp toilets onto Amos watching toilet facilities
4. Close up, IDP talking
5. Pan right, IDP talking onto Amos listening
6. Various shots, Amos meeting with vulnerable women
7. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Francoise Jumel, Internal Displaced person:
“I came here to work, but I got sick and so I can’t work. Now I live in the camp and I am not doing anything. I am just like that.”

29 SEPTEMBER 2011, CROIX DES BOUQUETS, HAITI

8. Wide shot, Amos and delegation walking in liquid waste treatment center
9. Wide shot, basin of treated water with trucks in the back
10. Med shot, truck full of liquid waste
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I saw a terrible situation in terms of provision of sanitation for example and the provision of sharing facility in Acra camp. If we don’t deal with that and deal with it urgently we will have a situation where Cholera which have stabilized and where numbers are going down, will be increasing again.”

29 SEPTEMBER 2011, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

12. Various shots Amos meeting with UN SRSG in Haiti, Mariano Fernandez
13. Wide shot press conference
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“It’s important to remember the 600 000 people, who are still living in camp situations. And I have seen deterioration in those camps since my visit last year.”
15. Cutaway press
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We are working actively with the government to ensure that camps close in a planned and phased manner, respectful of the rights of the displaced and the land owners.”
17. Cutaway press
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“In the absence of treatment centres like this, the risk of Cholera will remain high and will undermine our current prevention and treatment efforts.”
19. Wide shot press conference with camera in the front

Storyline

The United Nations (UN) relief chief yesterday (29 September) stressed the need for continued humanitarian assistance in Haiti, alongside development and reconstruction work.

Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, who wraps up her two-day visit to Haiti today, said she had gone to a camp housing 25,000 people and found that water and sanitation services had deteriorated because of a lack of resources.

Amos told a press conference that she had seen a terrible situation in terms of provision of sanitation and the provision of sharing facility in Acra camp.

She said “if we don’t deal with that and deal with it urgently we will have a situation where Cholera which have stabilized and where numbers are going down, will be increasing again.”

The humanitarian situation has been compounded by a cholera epidemic, food insecurity affecting 4.5 million people and an active hurricane season that has already destroyed homes and crops.

Amos said she briefly met with President Michel Martelly yesterday, who she said made it clear that his focus is on economic growth and creating conditions conducive for investment so that people can have job opportunities.

“We are working actively with the government to ensure that camps close in a planned and phased manner, respectful of the rights of the displaced and the land owners.” she said.

The people Amos spoke with in the camps also talked about the importance of having jobs and education opportunities for their children.

Francoise Jumel, an internally displaced person, said he had arrived to Port Au Prince to work, but fell sick and couldn't work. He added "now I live in the camp and I am not doing anything. I am just like that.”

Some 600,000 people displaced by the devastating earthquake in January last year still live in nearly 900 camps. They are facing the increasing threat of evictions from the sites, as well as growing insecurity.