GENEVA / HAITI FLOODING
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STORY: GENEVA / HAITI FLOODING
TRT: 2.36
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 NOVEMBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – 2011, PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations.
13 NOVEMBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, journalists at press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Johan Peleman, Head of OCHA's office in Haiti:
“Most of the south of the country is completely flooded by the rains a lot of water points and sanitation systems have been destroyed or need to be drained. Irrigation systems have been destroyed, rivers have burst their banks there are up to 6,200 houses that have been destroyed.
4. Cutaway, name banner
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Johan Peleman, Head of OCHA's office in Haiti:
“The CNSA which is the national committee for food security in Haiti considers that the March harvest may already be lost - this is why we urgently are asking for money for people to go back to the fields to start working those irrigation canals that nee to be drained. We need to buys seeds which are expensive on the international market to start planting so that at least there can be a harvest in March.”
6. Cutaway, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Johan Peleman, Head of OCHA's office in Haiti:
“Now that half the country has been flooded and w has in some areas and we’re now 10 days away from Sandy some areas are still completely inundated with water and sanitation systems broken or needing drainage we obviously fear a new breakout of water borne diseases including spikes in cholera. Between the 28th October and the 8th November we had 4000 new cases which is almost double the average that were seen for the remainder of the year.”
8. Cutaway, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson, UNICEF:
“A rapid multi sector response is required to prevent a spike in cholera cases and to avert a deeper food security and nutrition crisis. The combination of which is especially lethal for children. Just a reminder, that a child who is suffering from severe acute malnutrition is 8 to 10 times more likely to succumb to death due to cholera than a child who is healthy. So the risks are really that more aggravated for children there.”
10. Wide shot, journalists at press conference
The United Nations (UN) warned that Haiti’s next harvest, due in March, may already be destroyed by the flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy.
Officials also warned that the unsanitary conditions in the country had almost doubled the number of new cases of cholera. The storm, a powerful category two hurricane tore through Haiti two weeks ago killing 54 people, and causing widespread damage, destroyed crops and left thousands of people homeless.
Speaking to journalist at the UN in Geneva today (13 November), Johan Peleman, OCHA's head of office in Haiti said the national committee for food security in Haiti considered that the March harvest “may already be lost”.
Peleman said that was the reason why the UN Humanitarian office was urgently asking for money. He said, “we need to buys seeds which are expensive on the international market to start planting so that at least there can be a harvest in March”.
The UN on Monday (12 November) called for an extra $39 million (31 million euros) in aid to help Haiti recover from Hurricane Sandy's passage across the Caribbean last month.
Marixie Mercado, UNICEF’s Spokesperson told journalists at the same briefing that a rapid multi sector response was required to prevent a spike in cholera cases and to avert a deeper food security and nutrition crisis. He said that, “the combination of which is especially lethal for children”.