21 Jan 2011

SRI LANKA / BRAGG

The deputy UN Humanitarian Chief calls for greater efforts to assist former internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka who have returned to their villages and are facing daunting challenges trying to rebuild their lives. OCHA

Posted at: January 21, 2011 12:12 pm

Duration: 01:53

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY:  SRI LANKA / BRAGG
TRT: 1.53
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 20 JANUARY 2011, THERAVIL, PUTUKUDIYRIUPPU, MULLAITIVU DISTRICT, BATTICALOA DISTRICT, SRI LANKA

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, ASG Bragg received by Vavuniya District Government Agent at Vavuniya airport.
2. Med shot, ASG and UN officials welcomed by Vallipuram school children 
3. Med shot, school children
4. Med shot, government Official and villagers
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General:
"It's good to see the returns happenings, its good to see the resettlement happening. At the same time I think there is still a lot to be done. The UN will do our best to be part of that rebuilding and recovery and recognition of all that has happen in the last while."
6. Med shot, UN officials and villages
7. Wide shot, children studying under the tree at the Vallipuram school
8. Med shot, children studying.
9. Med shot, children learning music
10. Med shot, landmines warning sign
11. Wide shot, ASG Bragg visiting the de-mining site
12. Med shot, Dia Bio Operational Manager De-mining Unit explaining the situation to ASG Bragg
13. Wide shot, UN vehicles manoeuvre the floods
14. Various shots, ASG and officials embarking the aircraft
15. Aerial shots, visuals of floods in Batticaloa District, Eastern Sri Lanka
16. Various shots, ASG Bragg visiting houses of resettled people in Mullaitivu District, Northern Sri Lanka
17. Various shots, interior of one of the houses 
18. Wide shot, ASG Bragg visiting houses
19. Wide shot, ASG Bragg  and others next to bags of Non-Food Items in Vallipuram, Mullaitivu District, Northern Sri Lanka
20. Med shot, one of the beneficiaries carrying the relief items on his bicycle

STORYLINE:
 
The deputy United Nations (UN) humanitarian chief called for greater efforts to assist former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka who have returned to their villages and are facing daunting challenges trying to rebuild their lives.

"It's good to see the returns happenings, its good to see the resettlement happening", said Catherine Bragg, adding that "at the same time I think there is still a lot to be done."

Bragg also said that the UN would do its best to be part of the rebuilding, recovery and "recognition of all that has happen in the last while."

Northern Sri Lanka was ravaged by decades of conflict that ended in May 2009. The violence displaced more than 300,000 people who were accommodated in IDP camps. Only 20,000 people remain in the camps, unable to return home due to the risk of landmines and lack of basic services.

Bragg travelled across the South Asian country to get a better understanding of humanitarian priorities. In the north, she went to Theravil in Mullaitivu District, which was recently cleared of landmines, enabling former residents to return and begin rebuilding their lives.

Some 263 families have returned to Theravil, which was one of the last battlegrounds in the conflict, after their release from the largest IDP camp, Menik Farm, in November last year.

During Bragg's visit, aid organizations expressed their wish to help address the range of physical, social and psychosocial needs of the returnees.

She then travelled to Batticaloa in the flood-ravaged eastern province where she heard from local government and aid organizations about the extent of the damage, especially in the agricultural sector, which has lost an estimated 80 per cent of this season's harvest in some areas.

OCHA had also launched a flash Appeal for the flood emergency. The appeal seeks USD51 million to meet the immediate needs of one million people affected by the floods for the next six months.

The humanitarian office announced that a USD6 million grant from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has been allocated to jumpstart key life-saving projects.