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STORY: GENEVA / HAITI MATTHEW AID
TRT: 2:38
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 07 OCTOBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations
07 OCTOBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The Government of Haiti estimates that at least 350 000 people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, but we expect that number to go up as we get more assessment, information back from our teams. The authorities have also reported that nearly 2,000 homes have been flooded, hundreds more damaged or destroyed and more than 15,600 people were evacuated”.
3. Close up, journalist
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Bettina Luescher, Spokesperson, World Food Programme (WFP):
“There are big logistical challenges. Some of the most important bridges which are the life lines to the south-west have been damaged. We are going to use a helicopter to bring in humanitarian personal and relief items to the affected areas, for example fly in a generator. And also important is as part of our logistics work for the whole humanitarian community, we are bringing in mobile storage units, because when relief supplies arrive they have to be stored, they have to be protected from rain, and weather and everything. This is what we are doing in Haiti, all hands are on deck. This is a big crisis and I think it is also important to remember that Haiti keeps on getting hit by disasters and natural catastrophe. So we will all have to work much harder to help the people on the ground”.
5. Close up, journalist typing
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Christophe Boulierac, Spokesperson, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
"The priorities especially for children are essentially to ensure that in the context of flooding - especially in the Les Cayes area - they have access to clean water and proper sanitation since children are particularly sensitive as you know to the problems of water-borne diseases."
7. Close up, UN logo
8. SOUNDBITE (French) – Fadela Chaib, Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO):
"As there is a lot of flooding and damage to the water and sanitation infrastructure, it is likely that cases of cholera will be recorded, maybe not right away. Like all waterborne diseases it takes a few weeks for the cases to be registered. That is why WHO has already in advance prepared teams to detect very quickly the first cases and to know exactly where they are in order to avoid the spread cholera cases to other regions. "
9. Close up, journalist
The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said at least 350,000 people in Haiti were in need of immediate humanitarian assistance and the number were expected to rise in the aftermath of hurricane Matthew.
Reports indicated that the number of people killed in Haiti had risen into the hundreds, as coastal villages and towns began making contact with the outside world two days after being hit by the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade.
OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva today (7 Oct), his office expected the number of people in need of assistance to go up as more information was gathered from their teams in Haiti.
The World Food Programme (WFP), which was already providing food aid to Haiti throughout the year, had brought additional food items enough to feed 300,000 people for a month. It’s spokesperson, Bettina Luescher, said “25 tonnes of food was given to 9,000 people to eat for a week” in some of the worse affected areas in Haiti’s southwest, Jeremie and Grand-Anse.
Luescher said there were big logistical challenges as “some of the most important bridges which are the life lines to the south-west have been damaged.” She said WFP would be using a helicopter to bring in humanitarian personal and relief items to the affected areas. She added that this was a “big crisis” and reminded that Haiti “keeps on getting hit by disasters and natural catastrophe so we will all have to work much harder to help the people on the ground”.
UNICEF reported that half a million children live in areas hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti and some 175 schools were believed to have sustained heavy damage and at least 150 schools throughout the country were being used to shelter evacuees. UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac said the priorities for children were “essentially to ensure that in the context of flooding - especially in the Les Cayes area - they have access to clean water and proper sanitation since children are particularly sensitive as you know to the problems of water-borne diseases."
The World Health Organization (WHO) was particularly concerned with the spread of waterborne diseases including cholera. WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said the Organization had “already in advance prepared teams to detect very quickly the first cases and to know exactly where they are in order to avoid the spread cholera cases to other regions.”
