Message by Anita Nirody on UN/Media Visit to Palu

Good morning, selamat pagi to all of you,

Your Excellency, Bapak Longki Djanggola, Governor of Central Sulawesi Province

Colleagues from government offices, media, UN agencies and partners,

Thank you for joining us today on occasion of our visit to Central Sulawesi.

Today we will have an opportunity to witness some of the important work that is being undertaken by the people of C. Sulawesi to recover from the impact of the series of earthquakes and the ensuing tsunami and resulting liquefaction and landslides that struck the province almost a year ago in which 4,845 people are estimated to have lost their lives, 172,999 people were displaced and 110, 214 homes damaged, created massive infrastructure damage and rendered thousands of people without access to the basics: basic food, water, health and shelter.

We will visit two specific programmes supported by the UN in Indonesia and hear about the UN’s role to support the Govt and people of C. Sulawesi during and after the crisis.

I was here with the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres shortly after the series of strong earthquakes struck this province on 28 September last year. During his visit, the SG conveyed his condolences and expressed the UN’s solidarity with the government and people of Sulawesi, commended Indonesia for its efforts in disaster response and extended UN support to complement the national disaster response.

What I saw during my visit stays vividly in my memory – massive damage and loss of life, from which this beautiful region is still working to recover. But I was most struck by the strength and resilience of the people and their resolve to make things better, beginning with the first responders and people in the communities impacted, and the strong partnerships that were developed at the national and sub-national levels to deal with the crisis.

Over the years, Indonesia has invested considerable in strengthening its capacities in disaster management and response. The UN has a long standing and strong partnership with the Govt. of Indonesia. Our role following the natural disaster in C. Sulawesi was to support the Government-led national response by mobilizing financial resources, providing critical life-saving assistance, targeting the most vulnerable people with shelter food, clean water etc. and then moving on to early recovery support to help communities, build back better, through rehabilitation of infrastructure, cash for work programmes, and other livelihood opportunities.

Drawing on their considerable experience and specific mandates, UN agencies were able to come together quickly and effectively to help deliver some of the above support in collaboration with national and local authorities. For example: FAO proving agricultural inputs to more than 8000 farming households across 132 villages, WFP provided comprehensive logistical assistance to help deliver some 1537MT of relief items throughout the emergency phase, WHO provided access to medical care for some 83,160 persons, and OCHA deployed its first team, together with the AHA Centre during the initial stage of emergency response to support multi-stakeholder coordination.

And today we will visit programmes supported by UNDP and UNFPA and learn about our support towards important early recovery and rehabilitation efforts along with our support on reproductive health services to ensure healthy pregnancy, safe childbirth, family planning, women and youth friendly spaces etc.

The role of the media, before, during and after a crisis are very important. You have an important role to play in helping drive public awareness about the impact of disasters that can galvanize pro-active responses by people, communities and partners.

I hope that by the end of today, you will have opportunity to learn more about what people are doing in key areas of disaster response and recovery and what the UN is doing to support these efforts.

I would like to, on behalf of the UN family, express our deep appreciation and gratitude to the Government and people of C. Sulawesi and to all our national and local partners through whom we have been able to contribute to improving the lives of people struck by this disaster.