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カリブ海ハリケーン被害—ユニセフの支援が始まっています
パナマ/ジュネーブ
2004年9月21日
過去10日間あまりの間にハイチ、ドミニカ共和国、グレナダ、ジャマイカを始めとするカリブ海8カ国を襲った2つのハリケーンにより、もともと脆弱だった保健、教育、安全な水を供給する社会サービスが寸断され、数千人の子どもが危機に瀕しています。
ユニセフは、経口補水塩(ORS)や浄水剤、医薬品、教材キットなどの緊急支援用資材5トンを、第1便として9月13日にコペンハーゲンからジャマイカへ、16日にはグラナダへ空輸しました。
日本ユニセフ協会では、現時点では本件を対象とした指定募金を行っていません
本訳文はユニセフ本部発のプレスリリースの要点に、別途入手した現地情報などを加えて作成しました。詳細は以下のプレスリリースオリジナルをご覧下さい。
[ユニセフ本部発プレスリリース・オリジナル]
UNICEF: Thousands of Children Affected by Caribbean
Storms
Relief Supplies Being Delivered; Priority on Restoring Basic Services
PANAMA CITY/GENEVA, 21 September 2004 - As Haiti and the Dominican
Republic begin to dig out from Hurricane Jeanne, UNICEF said today
that it is rushing to help restore services to some of the Caribbean’s
most vulnerable children as forecasters predict a continuing season
of destructive storms throughout the region.
Speaking from Panama City, itself lashed by storms that killed nine
children, UNICEF Deputy Regional Director Alfredo Missair said that
widespread poverty and weak social services in the region mean that
those most affected by the hurricanes are also those least well equipped
to cope.
For the past ten days, hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne have battered Grenada,
Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Cayman Islands
and the Bahamas.
“Thousands of children have suffered from these storms. Some have
lost their lives, many have been injured, and thousands have seen their
homes and schools destroyed,” said Missair. “Many people have an image
of the Caribbean as a wealthy region, but it is really characterized
by huge disparities of wealth, both between countries and especially
within countries. Children have been hit the hardest by these hurricanes.”
UNICEF said its immediate priority is to provide immediate relief
supplies and restore services for children. Many areas remain cut off,
without access to food, clean water, and medical aid. Working closely
with governments and international humanitarian and relief agencies,
UNICEF said it is concentrating on preventing deadly diarrhea, rushing
medical supplies and water purification tablets to the hardest-hit
communities, and providing children with psychosocial support and reopening
schools.
In Grenada, Hurricane Ivan damaged or destroyed the country's 78 schools
just as the nearly 30,000 school children began their school year.
UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Education and other partners
to ensure that schools are cleared of hazardous debris. UNICEF 'School
in a Box' kits have begun to arrive, providing educational material
for thousands of children. 'Sport-in-a-Box' kits are also arriving,
a gift from FIFA, the world soccer body.
In Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, more than 600 people
have been killed in mudslides touched off by Jeanne.
"These children have just been through the worst experience of
their lives," said Jean Gough, UNICEF Representative for Barbados
and Eastern Caribbean. "School give children a sense of safety
and routine, and we will provide that for them as quickly as we can,
whether the classroom is made out of plastic sheeting or concrete."
Children in Grenada account for more than 8,000 of the 20,000 left
homeless, and who are now living in shelters. UNICEF estimates that
between 80-90 per cent of health care centers and schools have been
damaged. In Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, tens of thousands have
been forced to seek shelter after their homes were flooded or destroyed.
"Hurricane Ivan has exacted a heavy toll on Jamaican families," said
Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF's Representative in Jamaica. "UNICEF
is very concerned about the lack of access to safe water nationwide
and the psychological distress being manifested among children.
The situation is especially hard on parents who had already spent significant
resources to prepare their children for the new school year, which
started only three days before the hurricane warnings came."
Apart from shipping relief supplies to victims of the hurricanes,
UNICEF is coordinating with various Caribbean governments, other regionally
based humanitarian relief agencies such as the IFRC, WFP, OCHA, Plan
International and CDERA, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response
Agency, to prepare for the turbulent months ahead in which further
storms are expected.
UNICEF said that involving young people in the process of recovery
is essential to their well-being. In Grenada, for example, 600 teenagers
are being trained by UNICEF to help thousands of children recover from
the trauma and disorientation caused by Hurricane Ivan. The ‘Return
to Happiness’ program uses play, sports, theater, drawing and story-telling
to get children to talk about what they have experienced and address
their fears in a supportive setting.
UNICEF immediately reallocated funds from existing programs to provide
relief supplies and has issued an appeal for more than $1 million to
help the children of the Caribbean recover.
“To many in Europe and North America, the islands hit by these storms
are thought of as holiday destinations,” said Nils Kastberg, UNICEF
Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “Now these islands
need their urgent help.”
To find out more, visit www.unicef.org
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