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Gujarat
Earthquake - Media Coverage
7
February 2001, The Hindu, New Delhi, India
U.N. networking with NGOs,
to focus on women and
children
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, FEB. 6. The United Nations has no plan of adopting any specific area
in quake-hit Gujarat, in response to an appeal made by the Indian Government, but
has instead decided to network with known NGOs in mounting relief and rehabilitation
efforts with focus on women and children.
The U.N., with the help of bilateral and multilateral donors, has contributed $30 million
in cash supplies and expects that the figure will go up to $50 million, the U.N.
Resident Coordinator and UNDP representative, Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, said
here today.
Saluting the tremendous solidarity shown by the Indian people in the aftermath of the
quake, she said the U.N. had redeployed its teams in the State for a convergence of
approach. The overall strategy was to reach the poorest and the unreached.
A representative of the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDACT), Mr. Joe Barr, who returned from the disaster zone,
said that by one estimate about 2,50,000 people might have been rendered homeless. Using basic
population figures, the UNICEF team estimates that 10 to 15 per cent children under
five and 22 per cent children between 5 and 14 years may have been affected. As
such 15,000 schools were affected and 80 per cent villages and districts near the
epicentre would have been affected.
Mr. Barr said despite all the relief and rehabilitation work being done,
the conditions were not good and community life was being disrupted.
Recovery will take time. There are several buildings in Kutch that have developed cracks and people are
scared of going into them.''
He was all praise for the quick response to the tragedy by the survivors, doctors,
NGOs and the armed forces, which, he said, saved many lives. There was no estimate of the people still buried under the
rubble, nor of the number of deaths.
Answering persistent questions on the response of the administration, Mr. Barr said,
``Coordination becomes a problem in view of the enormity of the catastrophe when
people are missing and resources were scarce.'' He identified provision of shelter
from cold as the most pressing need for the moment.
The UNICEF representative, Ms. Maria Calivis, said that over the next three months
an additional $10 million would be provided to address the special needs of children
and women. So far the agency had given approximately $4 million in relief supplies.
The focus would be on provision of water, sanitation facilities and rebuilding schools.
Describing the quake affected area as "food insecure'', the Country Director of the
World Food Programme, Mr. Pedro Medrano, said it had suffered drought in the last
two years. The earthquake had destroyed infrastructure, storage, warehouses, etc.
This would take some time to restore.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative in India and Bhutan,
Mr. Peter Rosenegger, said a six-member team had been sent to Bhuj to assess the
damage to agriculture and facilities against drought conditions.
According to Dr. Robert J. Kim-Farley of the World Health Organisation, surveillance
teams had been set up to monitor any outbreak of epidemic. There was none so far.
He said the bodies of the victims were not a public hazard. Only culturally it was
important to give them a decent funeral.
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