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STORY:GENEVA / SULAWESI DISASTER UPDATE
TRT: 2:46
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 2 OCTOBER 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior shot, Palais des Nations.
2. Wide shot, United Nations press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“As of today, the 2 October, the Government of Indonesia have confirmed that 1,234 people have died following the earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi on the 28th. Some 800 people have been seriously injured and nearly 100 people are still missing. It is likely that the casualty figures will increase as more areas become accessible and the Government conducts more assessments.”
4. Med shot, journalist.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Matthew Cochrane, spokesperson, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC):
“The situations that the teams describe are incredibly difficult; it took them one-and-a-half hours to carry each of the bodies out to nearby ambulances, having to wade through incredibly deep mud. The sense from the teams all working there from colleagues on the ground is one of real frustration. The access issues that my colleagues have spoken about are very difficult to overcome. There are still large areas of what might be the worst-affected areas that haven’t been properly reached, but the teams are pushing, they are doing what they can.”
6. Med shot, journalists.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“We are worried about what we know in terms of the impact of children but what we don’t know yet as information about the full extent of the disaster is still emerging. In Central Sulawesi we have concerns not only for the safety of children in Palu, but also in the city of Dongala and other communities still cut off from humanitarian aid.”
8. Med shot, journalists typing.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Dillon, spokesperson, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“The port itself has not been damaged; the cranes and gantries and the equipment you would use to remove goods from vessels have been badly damaged and in some cases completely knocked down and access to the port itself is very difficult.”
10. Close up, journalist’s reading glasses
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Verhoosel, spokesperson World Food Programme (WFP):
“WFP logistics officers have arrived in Sulawesi, with a Government convoy and are advising the Government on logistic operations. The situation is difficult, with shortages of fuel, damage to roads, sea infrastructure and airports impacting the work. The telecoms are intermittent.”
12. Wide shot, press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson, World Health Organization (WHO):
“What we may see as always in this kind of situation is additional injuries, in addition to those that have been already reported as a major health problem. Obviously a lack of shelter and water and sanitation facilities could lead to diarrhoea outbreaks and other communicable diseases.”
14. Close up shot, hands typing.
15. Med shot, IOM spokesperson.
16. Wide shot, press room, podium in background.
Four days after a deadly earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, United Nations agencies and partners have warned that some communities have yet to be reached and the death toll may rise, as the scale of the destruction unfolds.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Jens Laerke from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the number of victims had passed 1,200.
He said “as of today, the 2 October, the Government of Indonesia have confirmed that 1,234 people have died following the earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi on the 28th. Some 800 people have been seriously injured and nearly 100 people are still missing. It is likely that the casualty figures will increase as more areas become accessible and the Government conducts more assessments.”
At a collapsed church in Sigi Biromaru district, to the south of Palu city, rescuers described struggling through thick mud to retrieve the bodies of more than 30 youngsters from a bible study group.
“The situations that the teams describe are incredibly difficult,” said Matthew Cochrane, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). “It took them one-and-a-half hours to carry each of the bodies out to nearby ambulances, having to wade through incredibly deep mud. The sense from the teams all working there…is one of real frustration. The access issues that my colleagues have spoken about are very difficult to overcome. There are still large areas of what might be the worst-affected areas that haven’t been properly reached, but the teams are pushing, they are doing what they can.”
UN agencies and partners have already responded to Government calls for assistance, but access is still difficult to coastal and central areas of Sulawesi where the full scale of the damage is unknown. As part of the international response, the World Food Programme confirmed that it has been in close contact with the authorities since last Friday, when the disaster happened.
WFP’s humanitarian warehouse in Subang, Malaysia, is also on “standby” to release emergency supplies, Programme’s spokesperson Herve Verhoosel said. He explained that “WFP logistics officers have arrived in Sulawesi, with a Government convoy and are advising the Government on logistic operations. The situation is difficult, with shortages of fuel, damage to roads, sea infrastructure and airports impacting the work. The telecoms are intermittent.”
The potential impact on youngsters is particularly concerning, UN Children’s Fund UNICEF said, noting that more than 40 per cent of under-fives in Central Sulawesi are stunted from malnutrition. The fact that only 33 per cent of births are registered in the area is also a potential obstacle to reuniting unaccompanied minors with their families, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac said.
“We are worried about what we know in terms of the impact of children but what we don’t know yet as information about the full extent of the disaster is still emerging,” he told journalists. “In Central Sulawesi we have concerns not only for the safety of children in Palu, but also in the city of Dongala and other communities still cut off from humanitarian aid.”
Immediate priorities for the Government include evacuating people away from the worst-hit areas, according to IOM, but transport remains difficult and roads “perilous”, spokesperson Paul Dillon said. Earlier on Tuesday, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Indonesia, Mark Getchell, had discussed the situation with the authorities, Mr Dillon added. Aid could be delivered via a “humanitarian land bridge” from Jakarta to Sulawesi, Dillon said, noting that the idea had been implemented following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, from Jakarta to Aceh and from Medan to Aceh.
Delivering aid to Sulawesi through the port of Paulu continues to be a major challenge, however, the IOM spokesperson explained.
“The port itself has not been damaged (but) the cranes and gantries and the equipment you would use to remove goods from vessels have been badly damaged,” he said. “In some cases completely knocked down and access to the port itself is very difficult.”
Although the priority is on reaching survivors, damage to basic infrastructure and lack of clean water pose a significant health threat.
Already before the disaster, Donggala and Palu had cases of acute diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections, Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), said.
“What we may see as always in this kind of situation is additional injuries, in addition to those that have been already reported as a major health problem,” he said. “Obviously a lack of shelter and water and sanitation facilities could lead to diarrhoea outbreaks and other communicable diseases.”
The WHO official noted that an initial assessment by Indonesian officials had indicated that one hospital has suffered damage, while other health centres are being assessed. In coordination with the Ministry of Health’s Crisis Center, the UN agency is also preparing to offer to deploy registered medical teams.
