29.01.10 Eurovision satellite news

Location: Haiti, Port au Prince
Shooting date: 21-28 January
Length: 03:22
Format: 16:9 anamorphic
Production: Jan Powell
Camera: Jon Bjorgvinsson
Editor: Louis Mouchet
Sound: English, French, Creole
Copyrights: ICRC / Access All
ICRC reference: V F CR-F-01047-A


In Haiti, thousands of people live in anguish, unsure whether their relatives have been buried under the rubble or alive and unable to communicate. In a city where normal communications are shattered, the ICRC is using every means available to help people get find out what happened to loved ones. Satellite phones and a special website (www.icrc.org/familylinks), are helping thousands to call abroad to reassure their families and pass on vital news. Many Haitians depend on support from relatives abroad, so getting in touch is vital. For many, those relatives are now the only ones they have.

Within Haiti, many families have lost touch with each other in the chaos of the earthquake and its aftermath. Families were often split up in the rescue effort as they were taken to different emergency posts or fled to the countryside from the city in ruins. Children are particularly vulnerable since many have been left with no parents to care for them and separated from extended families.

STORY:
“If you need to let others know that you are alive or if you are looking for your relatives. It is urgent to register your name at the Haitian Red Cross or on the ICRC Internet site” is the word out on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Red Cross workers call out the message by megaphone in the makeshift camps which have become the temporary homes of thousands in Port au Prince.

The local phone network was damaged so satellite phones are being provided by the Haitian Red Cross for the people of Port-au-Prince to call relatives abroad - like Docilma Robenson who tells his parents in Florida that he has just become a father.

The ICRC and Haitian Red Cross are registering names on a special website. In the Haitian capital and throughout the country the survivors and their relatives have been signing up in thousands. Requests to trace missing relatives come in daily.

The children of Port-au-prince have been badly affected by the disaster. Thousands of them are now homeless and many have lost parents. This 6 year old year, (name withheld) lost his parents and his two brothers in the disaster. His uncle explains, “His house was really crushed. He lost all his family, his mother and his father and his two brothers who were at home"

The ICRC is concerned about the fate of orphans roaming the streets of Port-au-Prince and checks up on all the cases it comes across, even if it means climbing up the hills of the Desprez district to find out who is caring for this little boy. They find his grandmother, herself injured in the disaster, and check that the child is in good hands. The sheer number of cases makes the checking work slow and difficult says ICRC officer, Ginou Pierre Taverne.

In the afternoon, ICRC delegates find the parents of a two month old girl who was rescued in the ruins of her house and taken to a hospital in Florida for medical treatment. The request to look for them has come from the States. The baby's parents confirm that the child in the photos is their daughter. Her father explains how they were separated:
“I looked for the baby at the spot in the house where I thought she should be. I did not find anything. There were American journalists that came to the house when I was not there with rescuers and dogs. I was told that they had found the baby. I hurried back to the ruins but they had left with the baby. This child is my life. I wish she could always be next to me. That is all we wish for.”


The ICRC family links site (www.icrc.org/familylinks) for Haiti currently lists over 25,600 names. Over 3000 people have posted a "safe and well" message on the website, while 22,000 persons are listed as unaccounted for. In the first two weeks following the earthquake, Red Cross tracing teams enabled survivors in the largest camps in Port-au-Prince to make over 2000 phone calls to relatives abroad.


SHOTLIST

0:00 A pickup with loudspeaker driving through earthquake stricken neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince encouraging people to register at the family link site of the ICRC or directly with the Haitian Red Cross
0:11 A Haitian Red Cross volunteer walking through homeless shelters of Solino in Delmas 24 area of Port-au-Prince
0:22 A Haitian boy in Solino in Delmas 24, contacts his family in the United States through the telephone provided by the Family Link services of the ICRC
0:26 Docilma Robenson with his day old girl Ester announces through the sat phone provided by the ICRC to his relatives in Florida that he has become a father at the Sylvio Cator Football stadium, now a homeless shelter in Port-au-Prince
0:38 Haitian Red Cross Volunteers register earthquake victims to facilitate reunion of families in a community centre in Solino in Port-au-Prince
0:54 A wounded child sitting alone in front of the ICRC/Haitian Red Cross registration post at the ruined headquarters of the Haitian Red Cross in the Desprez district of Port-au-Prince
1:00 A 6 year old wounded orphan with his uncle getting medical attention at a health post outside the Haitian Red Cross headquarters
1:09 Interview in French with uncle of 6 year old wounded boy who lost his parents and both his brothers in the earthquake, and is now living in a shelter with his grandmother.
“La maison s’est vraiment enfoncé. Il a perdu tout sa famille, sa maman et son papa et ses deux frères qui étaient à la maison”.
English translation: “His house was really crushed. He lost all his family, his mother and his father and his two brothers who were at home”
1:26 The 6 year old wounded boy and his uncle who lost his parents and both his brothers in the earthquake walk up a hill to reach the shelter where they are dwelling with the boy's grandmother.
1:48 Robin Gason, ICRC Family Links Delegate and Ginou Pierre Taverne, Haitian Red Cross member working as a field officer with the ICRC (with cap) meet with grandmother of parentless 6 year old boy in their hill shelter where they are staying with other relatives.
1 :52 The grandmother of a parentless 6 year old boy
1 :58 Interview with Ginou Pierre Taverne, ICRC field Officer in French:
«C’était un peu difficile de vérifier l’information. Donc on a été ici pour voir avec qui il habite maintenant. Et on a vérifié effectivement qu’il vie maintenant avec sa grand mère et sa tante. C’est en général le premier problème, c’est surtout ça. La vérification des informations, vue qu’il y a toujours des personnes qui sont dispersées.
Translation : « It is somewhat difficult to verify the information. For that reason we came here to see with whom he is staying. We checked out that he is indeed now living with his grandmother and his aunt. That is usually the main problem, checking out the information we get, given that there are lots of people who have been scattred. »
2 :19 A 6 year old orphan and his nephew looking at photos of his parents lost in the earthquake and his 2 twin brothers who also died.
2 :29 Ginou Pierre Taverne, ICRC Field Officer (with cap) and Angela Théléys, Haitian Red Cross Volunteer meet with the parents of child separated from them after the earthquake. (According to the couple this happened: After the earthquake the father, who was not at his house when the quake struck, came home to find the ruins and his wife wounded. They tried to find their only child but did not find it. The father then took his wife to find medical care. She stayed at the Canapé Vert hospital while he kept on looking for 3 days at his home without finding the baby. On the fifth day when he was not at his house, rescuers came with a dog that found the baby. They rescued her and took her for medical care. With broken ribs she finally ended up in the USA. A note was left at the site to tell the parents where the baby had been taken to, but it took some time for the contact to be established. Now they are waiting for instructions from the US to know how they will be reunited with their baby."
2:40 Photos of the two month old girl flown for medical care to the USA, lying in her hospital bed. The girl had broken ribs.
2:51 Interview with father of 2 month your old girl in Creole:
French Translation: Je me suis précipité sur place, mais ils ont eu le temps de partir avec.
Ce bébé est tout mon soufflé. J’aimerais que il soit toujours à mes cotées. C’est tout ce qu’on voudrais.”
English translation: I hurried back to the ruins but they had left with the baby. This child is my life. I wish she could be with me. That is all we wish for.”
2:56 Registration form for separated and unaccompanied children
Robyn Gason, ICRC Family Links Delegate, with her hand on the shoulder of a17 years old boy who has come to the Haitian Red Cross along with his 10 year old brother Dorcena, looking for their mother who lives in France. The boys were living with their aunt who was lost in the earthquake.
2.58 Ginou Pierre Taverne, ICRC Field Officer (with cap) and Angela Théléys, Haitian Red Cross Volunteer taking down notes from 17 year and 10 year old brothers, who were left with a neighbour when their aunt died in the earthquake and are asking the Red Cross to help them reunite with their mother living in France.
3:03 The 10 year old boy signs papers asking the Red Cross to help him and his brother to reunite with their mother living in France. They were living with their aunt, who died in the disaster
3:16 Under the sign Retablissement des liens familiaux (Reestablishing Family Links) Robyn Gason, ICRC/French Red Cross Family Link Delegate holds the shoulder of the 17 year old boy looking to reunite with his mother in France

3:22 END