UN briefing on the situation in Myanmar after the cyclone

Описание: (20 May 2008) SHOTLIST

Near Yangon, Myanmar - Recent
1. Tracking shot of huts and people waiting by the river banks in aftermath of cyclone
2. People walking on bank of river
3. People on boats

Bangkok, Thailand - 20 May 2008
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Amanda Pitt, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
"They managed to see some of the survivors in settlements, whether those were government sponsored or spontaneous settlements. People, of course, are still in great need. But he (UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes) did say, I believe, that there is evidence of a significant relief operation underway. As we've been saying for a few days, a lot of stuff is going on on the ground. UN, international and national responders (agencies) are all working hard to get aid to the people. So I understand that is really helping."

Near Yangon, Myanmar - Recent
5. Various of people in aftermath of cyclone

Bangkok, Thailand - 20 May 2008
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Amanda Pitt, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
"I think what he's (UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes) trying to do is to really continue to try and accelerate the pace of disaster relief efforts. And again to work with partners at all levels to try and push that forward."
7. Various cutaways
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Amanda Pitt, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
"And gives, I understand, governments at the ministerial level the opportunity to go into Myanmar and to work with ASEAN, with the UN, those are the two sort of co-sponsors of the conference, to see first-hand what is needed and to really focus their attention on pledging what is needed. They're looking, not only at the current emergency relief which of course is crucial, but they're also going to be looking a little bit more long-term at how to alleviate the humanitarian suffering and look ahead a little bit further down the line. You've got to get people's lives back on track."
9. Close of notepad
10. Pitt's assistant taking notes

STORYLINE:

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday that there is "a significant relief operation underway" in Myanmar, as the country begins three days of mourning for some 78-thousand cyclone victims.

Myanmar's ruling junta has appeared to relent to foreign pressure to allow more outside help for its storm survivors.

On Monday the regime said it would allow its Asian neighbours to oversee the distribution of foreign relief to cyclone survivors.

It also approved a visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and prepared to host a meeting of aid donors, while claiming that losses from the May 2-3 disaster exceeded 10 (b) billion US dollars.

John Holmes, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, flew on Monday by helicopter to the delta before returning to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, to meet with international aid agencies.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) office in Bangkok said that Holmes was able to visit a wide-range of areas noting various degrees of destruction.

"They managed to see some of the survivors in settlements, whether those were government sponsored or spontaneous settlements. People, of course, are still in great need. But he did say, I believe, that there is evidence of a significant relief operation underway," said Amanda Pitt, from OCHA..






Ban will arrive in Yangon on Thursday and stay until Friday night when he will fly to Bangkok.






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