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STORY: UN / DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
TRT: 2:16
SOURCE: UNTV / FILE
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 12 JULY 2010, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
2. Med shot, beginning of press conference
3. Cutaway, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations:
“We have looked at the absolutely terrible disaster in Haiti. Haiti’s problems did not start with the earthquake, made it so much worse because of the destruction. And then you compare with the earthquake in Chile and you can see that in the earthquake in Chile, the infrastructure much stronger, the national planning much stronger, the buildings have been made earthquake proof largely, they were standing up.”
5. Cutaway, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations:
“In Haiti, we know, there are many clear examples of poor building material. If buildings are not of acceptable quality, it can be an issue of building codes. Codes are a good norm to have but it doesn’t in itself solve the problem. There’s the education of labour, the quality of the building material and it’s the oversight on the monitoring and ensuring that buildings are better.”
7. Cutaway, journalists
8. Med shot, end of press conference
1 JULY 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
9. Wide shot, man with blocks passes through small passage
10. Close-up, tilt up, hammer in man’s hand opens holes in the block to man’s face
11. Wide shot, group of men working on the wall
12. Med shot, placing the block in place
13. Wide shot, engineers of Myamoto NGO talking to workers
14. Close-up, engineers of Myamoto
15. Wide shot, collapsed house to workers on the street below
16. Wide shot, a pile of new blocks in front of collapsed house.
17. Wide shot, Rocks and masons’ tools
18. Med shot, Michael taking photo of work in progress
19. Wide, several workers working on the new house wall
It has been six months since a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, causing major damage to the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding area. According to the United Nations (UN), while a great deal has been achieved in the recovery effort since then, the reconstruction challenge remains daunting and full of challenges.
UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlström, who held a press conference today (12 July) to brief on progress made in the Making Cities Resilient Campaign, said that “Haiti’s problems did not start with the earthquake.”
She compared the destruction to the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile, saying that in Chile, “buildings have been made earthquake proof largely.”
According to the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, as with other post-disaster situations, the guiding principle for all reconstruction efforts is to build back better, where homes, critical infrastructure and services, such as electricity and water, can withstand the impact of natural hazards.
Wahlström noted “there are many clear examples of poor building material” in Haiti and explained that good building codes, education of labour, quality of building material as well as good monitoring mechanism are essential for ensuring safety.
Today in Haiti, governments, civil society, the private sector and other UN agencies are working together to make the country more resilient against future disasters.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is one of the 60 cities that have signed up to the new ISDR campaign – Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready to be safer. The goal is to see 1,000 cities join by 2011.
