“Build Back Better” Sichuan Earthquake 2 Year Report UNICEF’s Recovery Work on Progress
2010-05-12
Hong Kong (12 May 2010) – On the 2-year anniversary day of Sichuan earthquake, Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU) reported on progress made on recovery work in Sichuan. As of April 2010, the HKCU contributed HK$148 million to the project, which represented close to half of the entire donation received by UNICEF from all over the world for Sichuan emergency relief work. To date, HK$82 million of funds from the HKCU have been utilized and the remaining HK$66 million will continue support the recover works moving forward in 2010/2011.
Right after the earthquake happened, UNICEF has responded promptly to and worked with its counterparts to support the Government of China’s overall restoration and reconstruction plan namely “Building Back Better”. Our relief programmes focus on education, child protection & psychosocial support, water & sanitation & hygiene, and health & nutrition. The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF works closely with UNICEF China as well as their Government counterparts, both in monitoring and supervising recovery work and in managing the use of funds. There are close to a hundred staff members stationing in China to access the needs of and implement programmes to help children and women affected by the devastating earthquake. “In order to support and monitor UNICEF’s Sichuan recovery work, HKCU had delegated representative to visit local fields in Sichuan, we were also glad to invited Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF Representative and UN Disaster Management Team Chair in China, come to share the progress of project with us in Hong Kong last week,” said Ms. Irene Chan, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF. Ms. Irene Chan stated, “both sides of us are satisfied with the pace of progress in UNICEF’s Sichuan recovery work, we will continuously support the remaining effort of restoration and reconstruction project to help all the earthquake-affected people resume to normalcy, and even have a better well-being than ever.” Over the past two years, UNICEF’s 3-year recovery works in Sichuan have just left 20% along some areas were completed successfully. The key achievements are summarized as follows: Highlights of recovery: Child-Friendly Spaces Help Psychological Rebuilding: UNICEF has established 40 professionally led “Child-Friendly Spaces” in the earthquake zone providing community-based child protection services and psychosocial support to the children and their families affected by earthquake. As a result, 100,816 children and over 5,000 parents are benefited. Clean Water and Sanitation Facilities: 80% completion has been made on providing clean water and sanitation, while water supply construction projects have been fully completed, providing 73,700 earthquake-affected villagers. An exceeding of almost 2 times of the total number of beneficiaries expected is recorded. Resume to Education and Early Child Development: UNICEF established 125 community-based kindergartens and preschools, benefiting 12,631 school children. Better Policy Enhancing School Safety: UNICEF is also working with the Ministry of Education to increase safety awareness among children and their communities. The Ministry of Education, with technical inputs from UNICEF, developed educational materials on emergency preparedness and school safety. UNICEF also assisted policymakers and technical experts, studied how to assess the earthquake resistance of school buildings, retrofit vulnerable buildings, and develop safety standards for new construction. Upcoming workplan for 2010 / 11: UNICEF will continue to provide trainings to local counterparts, organizations and local units on child protection, water treatment maintenance, health and hygiene, and education so as to ensure that the newly built facilities are operated in good practice and maintained in a sustainable manner. We will extend the WASH interventions with the Government of China’s overall reconstruction programme in 2010 /11, ensure the construction of remaining sanitation facilities will be completed with high quality and in accordance with national standards. WASH technical training, health education and hygiene campaigns will also be conducted at province, county and village level. In Education and Child Protection, with the speeding up of the reconstruction process, 4 of the CFS have already been relocated to permanent buildings last year, an additional 16 CFS are facing relocation plans in 2010. UNICEF will be working closely with project partners at all levels to monitor the relocation and continuity of CFS, and provide necessary technical support to facilitate a smooth transition to sustain caring and services to woman and children in Sichuan.
