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KYRGYZSTAN / DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
STORY: KYRGYZSTAN / DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
TRT: 4.13
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: KYRGYZ / NATS
DATELINE: 11 OCTOBER 2011, BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN
1. Pan xx, mudslide
2. Wide shot, cleanup in Chengen village
3. Wide shot, cleanup
4. Med shot, statue amid cleanup
5. Med shot, family standing outside their home
6. Pan xx, ten-year-old Ruslan, pan to his sister
7. Med shot, interior of damaged house
8. Close up, boy leaning against window
9. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Ruslan Omurbaev, flood victim:
“The flood took everything – my toys, my books.And it still gives me bad dreams.”
11. Med shot, grandmother holding child
12. Med shot, water being poured
13. Tilt up, women pouring water
14. Close up, Ruslan
15. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Zhumash Omurbaev, Grandfather:
“I was away at the time, and my neighbours had to rescue the grand children through the windows at the back, because the flood came so quickly. I have them to thank for their lives.”
16. Wide shot, passing car, mountains in background
17. Wide shot, mountain landscape
18. Wide shot, snowy mountains
19. Wide shot, people walking across land
20. Med shot, girls walking
21. Med shot, children in classroom
22. Med shot, children
23. Med shot, disaster video being shown in class
24. Med shot, children watching the video
25. Close up, children watching video
26. Med shot, children gathered around table
27. Close up, little girl
28. Med shot, two shot of girls
29. Wide shot, teacher in class
30. Med shot, teacher talking to class
31. Close up, little girl
32. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Nurgul Karaeva, teacher:
“Children between three and five really absorb this information and even tell their parents what to do. If those two boys who died had known what to do, maybe they would have survived.”
33. Med shot, children participating in disaster preparedness training
34. Med shot, teacher with children
35. Close up, little girl in class
36. Med shot, little girl looking up
37. Wide shot, children walking home from school
38. Wide shot, children walking home from school
39. Pan xx, children walking home
40. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Aijan Abdykarimova, Student:
“When we see the flood, we have to run for home and be with our parents because the flood is bad and it can take you away.”
41. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Abdilaziz Zaitov Head of District Education, Dept. Batken District:
“This is something very new for us. Before, children would run out panicking during an emergency. But now they know exactly what to do. There’s a big difference when children know who to listen to, how to follow and how to behave.”
42. Pan xx, village in Batken
43. Wide shot, village, people walking through
44. Med shot, disaster official speaking to woman
45. Wide shot, village
46. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Islam Misiraliev Head, Batken District Emergency Situations Department:
“The most vulnerable during a disaster, are the young people and elderly. Now we are doing a lot of activities with UNICEF on preparedness of pre-school children, and as you can see, we conduct a lot of simulations in kindergartens.”
47. Med shot, Ruslan’s siblings
48. Med shot, grandparents
49. Med shot, grandmother
50. Wide shot, family
51. Med shot, woman speaking to her family
52. Wide shot, Bolot’s home
53. SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Bolot Aziretkulov, 16 years old:
“When the mudflow came, we ran away through the neighbour’s garden to save the small children from next door and then went to higher ground. I knew we had to do that because the TV emergency announcements tell you to.”
54. Med shot, grandmother and little girl
55. Wide shot, village
56. Wide shot, debris and wrecked car
57. Wide shot, hut in village, little boy running
58. Med shot, window, Ruslan walks through
59. Close up, plant through window
The people of Chengen village in southern Kyrgyzstan, still clearing up after a massive mudslide that ripped through this community, wrecking scores of homes.
The memory of it is still painful for ten-year-old Ruslan Omurbaev and his siblings. Within minutes their home was flooded – most of their possessions gone.
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Ruslan Omurbaev, flood victim:
“The flood took everything – my toys, my books. And it still gives me bad dreams.”
They are now looked after by their grandparents and neighbours while they wait for a new home.
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Zhumash Omurbaev, Grandfather:
“I was away at the time and my neighbours had to rescue the grandchildren through the windows at the back, because the flood came so quickly. I have them to thank for their lives.”
In this country of dramatic mountain terrain, the changeable weather can present dangers with dramatic suddenness. And global climate change could influence the severity and frequency of extreme weather events.
The country is also highly prone to earthquakes.
At this pre-school in Batken region, children are learning just what to do in the event of a disaster.
It’s part of a pilot project in DRR, or disaster risk reduction, implemented by UNICEF in conjunction with government and NGO partners and supported by the European Commission. It is designed to build a culture of safety which becomes sustainable.
In a community never far removed from the dangers around them, the teacher in this class lost two teenage nephews in a mudslide, the week before.
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Nurgul Karaeva, teacher:
“Children between three and five really absorb this information and even tell their parents what to do. If those two boys who died had known what to do, maybe they would have survived.”
In a neighbouring village, the lesson in DRR is particularly relevant for school friends, Aipere and Aijan.
Their walk home takes them across a dry river bed that becomes a raging torrent of mud and water when it rains heavily.
Thankfully, both of them know what to do.
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Aijan Abdykarimova, Student:
“When we see the flood, we have to run for home and be with our parents. Because the flood is bad and it can take you away.”
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Abdilaziz Zaitov Head of District Education, Dept. Batken District:
“This is something very new for us. Before children would run out panicking during an emergency. But now they know exactly what to do. There’s a big difference when children know who to listen to, who to follow and how to behave.”
It is planned that the same training for three to seven year olds will be extended to all pre-schools in Kyrgyzystan, so those most vulnerable in disasters, will learn how to behave in emergencies.
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Islam Misiraliev, Head, Batken District Emergency Situations Deptartment:
“The most vulnerable during a disaster, are the young people and elderly. Now we are doing a lot of activities with UNICEF on preparedness of pre-school children. We conduct a lot of simulations in kindergartens.”
Back in Ruslan’s village, his grandmother tells us she hasn’t seen a flood like the one they experienced in the fifty years she had lived there.
But at least the younger generation are now better prepared.
In a neighbouring house, 16-year-old Bolot and his grandmother managed to escape from their home, and help others get out.
SOUNDBITE (Kyrgyz) Bolot Aziretkulov, 16 years old:
“When the mudflow came, we ran away through the neighbour’s garden to save the small children from next door and then went to higher ground. I knew we had to do that because the TV emergency announcements tell you to.”
A generation growing up facing greater potential dangers and needing the skills to deal with them, relying on the people they can most rely on – themselves.
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