UNifeed: EL SALVADOR / FLOODS UPDATE

EL SALVADOR / FLOODS UPDATE

UNICEF is providing aid to El Salvador following devastating floods in November that killed over 190 people, left 80 reported missing and displaced thousands. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and thousands damaged. UNICEF

Duration:2:30Date:11 December 2009

Categories:

United Nations Children's Fund, HUMANITARIAN AID AND RELIEF, DISASTER PREVENTION, PREPAREDNESS AND RELIEF, EL SALVADOR

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Full Script

STORY: EL SALVADOR / FLOODS 
TRT:  2:30 
SOURCE: UNICEF 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: English / Spanish

DATELINE: 28 NOVEMBER – 2 DECEMBER 2009, LA LIBERTAD, SAN VICENTE AND SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR

SHOTLIST:

LA LIBERTAD, EL SALVADOR, 28 NOVEMBER

1. Med shot, Ismael Linares in Melara 
2. Wide shot, flood damage in Melara 
3. Wide shot, rocks from landslide 
4. Med shot, truck on washed out road 
5. Various shots, exteriors of flood damage 
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ismael, 13 years old: 
“My grandmother’s house was also wrecked. There’s no kitchen. There’s nothing. 
7. Various shots, Eduardo Guirola School shelter

JOYA GRANDE, EL SALVADOR, 1 DECEMBER 2009

8. Wide shot, health clinic

SAN VICENTE, EL SALVADOR, 29 NOVEMBER 2009

9.   Med shot, women waiting for supplies

ILOPANGO, EL SALVADOR, 1 DECEMBER 2009

10. Med shot, children painting in shelter 
11.   SOUNDBITE, Emma Rojas, shelter manager (Spanish): 
“I have three little boys here who are two, three and four months old. The rest are anywhere from two to 12 years old.”

SAN VICENTE, EL SALVADOR, 29 NOVEMBER 2009

12.   Wide shot, UNICEF supply truck 
13.   Various shots, household kits being unloaded 
14.   Close up, household kit contents

ILOPANGO, EL SALVADOR, 1 DECEMBER 2009

15.   SOUNDBITE, Emma Rojas, shelter manager (Spanish): 
“Most of the people here have no home to return to. Their houses are completely buried.” 
16. Close up, girl in shelter crying 
17.   Med shot, boy cutting paper

LA LIBERTAD, EL SALVADOR, 28 NOVEMBER

18. Various shots, children playing in shelter courtyard

SAN VICENTE, EL SALVADOR, 29 NOVEMBER 2009 
  
19. Various shots, people shaking hands

JOYA GRANDE, EL SALVADOR, 1 DECEMBER 2009

20. Various shots, destroyed home

SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR, 2 DECEMBER 2009 
  
21. SOUNDBITE, UNICEF Rep. in El Salvador Miriam de Figueroa: 
“We propose, through the flash appeal, to support the country through the rehabilitation of the water system, the hygiene and the sanitation that were really affected by the emergency.”

LA LIBERTAD, EL SALVADOR, 28 NOVEMBER 2009

22. Various shots, children in shelter courtyard 
STORYLINE:

Ismael Linares puts a brave face on the story of how his family lost everything – except their lives – in the floods and landslides that struck El Salvador in November. Here in the tiny hamlet of Melara, rocks and barren ground are all that remain of the houses where the 13-year-old and his relatives lived.

Heavy rains from Hurricane Ida and another severe weather system in the Pacific battered five Salvadoran provinces, including La Libertad, where Melara is located.

“My grandmother’s house was also wrecked,” Ismael said. “There’s no kitchen. There’s nothing.”

Today, the displaced residents of Melara are living in a shelter set up in the nearby school that Ismael and his friends normally attend. They were among the 75,000 Salvadorans who had to flee their homes when floodwaters rose quickly in the early morning hours of November 8. A month later, at least 5,000 were still living in shelters like this one.

About 100 people were killed in the floods, and dozens are still missing. This family at a shelter in Ilopango, near the capital, lost two teenage sons in the avalanche of rocks and mud that took many by surprise as they slept.

In the immediate aftermath, displaced families desperately needed essential supplies, including food and safe water. Government and humanitarian agencies responded quickly enough to prevent widespread disease outbreaks. UNICEF delivered 250,000 litres of bottled water in those first days, for example, and more in the weeks that followed.

It also distributed 140 kits with hygiene supplies and household items for families in the shelters. The kits were a lifeline for mothers whose belongings had been buried in mud or washed away.

“I have three little boys here who are two, three and four months old,” said Emma Rojas, manager of a shelter in Ilopnago, on the outskirts of San Salvador. “The rest are anywhere from two to 12 years old.”

But even as their basic needs are met, many children in the shelters and affected communities are still fearful and insecure. To help relieve their stress, UNICEF has provided recreation kits and counseling programs.   Activities in the shelters are designed to help children regain a sense of normalcy in the wake of the disaster.

“Most of the people here have no home to return to,” said Ms. Rojas. “Their houses are completely buried.”

Now, UNICEF and its partners in El Salvador are turning from the initial recovery phase to rehabilitation. With hundreds of homes destroyed and thousands damaged, building permanent housing for displaced families will be a major challenge. And much more international funding is needed to repair the country’s infrastructure.

In mid-November, the United Nations issued a flash appeal asking international donors to provide additional humanitarian aid for Salvadoran flood victims. The appeal includes $3.2 million for UNICEF’s emergency programmes. To date, however, the donor response has been disappointing.

“We propose, through the flash appeal, to support the country through the rehabilitation of the water system, the hygiene and the sanitation that were really affected by the emergency,” said UNICEF Representative in El Salvador Miriam de Figueroa.

To get back on their feet, she added, flood-affected families need “urgent intervention.”

Meanwhile, Ismael spends his days and nights at the shelter in La Libertad. School is out for now, but when classes resume in January, the shelter will be converted back into a school. Along with all the others now taking refuge in school buildings, Ismael’s family will have to find someplace else to live – once again testing the resilience they have shown in the wake of a life-changing disaster.

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