MaximsNewsNetwork: INDONESIA EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCY UN OCHA EFFORTS

MaximsNewsNetwork: 15 October 2009 - OCHA: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes wraps up a two-day mission to Indonesia. 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 today (15 October) wrapped up a two-day visit to some of the areas worst hit by last months earthquake in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with a press conference in the capital Jakarta.

SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
This is a serious crisis which deserves not only the strong national response that its received from the government centrally and locally but also international help which the government have welcomed.

The 30 September earthquake severely damaged hospitals, schools, infrastructure and 135,000 homes, according to initial assessments, especially in Padang city and the Padang Paramian district.

The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team has just ended its deployment in Padang City.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
The death-toll is still perhaps unclear finally but is certainly more than 1,100 and 1.2 million people affected all together.
Holmes said some of the biggest needs now were in the area of shelter, because of so much damage to housing.
Last week the humanitarian community, in consultation with the Indonesian government, launched a 38-million dollar 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:
The Central Emergency Response Fund, the UN's own Central Emergency Response Fund which I manage from New York will be making a contribution to that response plan of some seven million [US] dollars to cover the most urgent lifesaving needs for the next few weeks, but I also hope the donor community will respond widely, will respond generously to those needs and enable us to raise those 38 million dollars.

Early food and nutrition assessments reveal approximately 190,000 people in the most affected areas are experiencing temporary shortages of staple foods such as rice. The World Food Programme has been providing fortified biscuits to children under 5 and to pregnant and lactating women, and has also started its school feeding program.
As some 90,000 students are estimated to be in urgent need of teaching materials, UNICEF has distributed 228 school tents, 80 school in-a-box kits and 80 recreational kits in 6 districts.

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• John Holmes
• earthquake
• West Sumatra
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• WFP
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• World Food Programme
• UNICEF