MaximsNewsNetwork: 14 October 2009 - UNTV - United Nations - OCHA: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes visits the earthquake-affected area of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It has been two weeks since a powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale left a path of destruction across West Sumatra, damaging houses, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure.
The top United Nations emergency relief official took a helicopter tour today (14 October) of the worst affected rural areas in the wake of last months earthquake in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, flying over valleys ravaged by dozens of landslides.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
I came to see for myself, to understand what happened, so that we can focus our aid in the best way possible to help people here whove obviously suffered so much.
The quake killed over 700 people, with 300 more missing, and injured over 2,200.
One community he visited lost more than 130 people, with many of the bodies unrecoverable and the survivors, still in shock, wondering how and where they can rebuild their lives.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
Weve just been looking a horrific landslide, where a village has more or less disappeared, 130, 150 people killed, some injured, people in a state of shock. So theres a lot of help needed here to rebuild.
Hospitals, schools, infrastructure and 135,000 homes were severely damaged, according to initial assessments, especially in Padang city and the Padang Paramian district.
SOUND OVER PICTURE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
Its just a very tragic sight, to see so many people swept away in an instant.
Last week the humanitarian community, in close consultation with the Indonesian government, launched a $38-million Humanitarian Response Plan, identifying acute needs to be addressed within 90 days and identifying 74 projects.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
Theres some very serious damage here, some very serious help needed here. The government and the local authorities will of course take the main burden of this, but the international community has to help. And I think the biggest area of help probably is shelter, giving people somewhere to live temporarily and then permanently. Because theres a huge number of houses damaged.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
The way forward is a hard slog. The immediate rescue effort is obviously pretty much over, people being buried in mass graves in places like this. The question is now relief, because people will need relief for months at a time, their livelihoods have often gone, their rice fields have gone, theyre going to need food, they need clean water, theyre going to need sanitation rebuilding, shelter above all, so this is a question of months and probably a couple of years at least before you can say, even superficially, that life is going to be back to normal.
During his visit, Holmes met with the governor of West Sumatra, the director of the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BPNB) and representatives of the many international humanitarian agencies now on the ground, commending the Government for responding effectively and coordinating well with the significant international response.
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and how is the result of helping ????
ferdifeather 2 years ago