NEWSWEEK: Now that the government says it will allow aid workers in, what is your objective over the next few days? Jean-Sebastien Matte: If it does materialize, we hope to be able to [bring in] a few dozen more international skilled staff experienced in this kind of situation. We now have 10 international staff in, but considering the scale of the catastrophe it’s way too low. The three main priorities are: the food situation–people lost everything, their food and stock; the shelter is a big issue, we have to put roofs now that the monsoon is here, and of course medical aid, they are mostly staying in schools and pagodas, and they need medical attention in that kind of environment.
How significant is this new development? Three weeks after the catastrophe we still see villages that haven’t gotten any relief. We need to reach everybody faster. We’re playing against the clock and by waiting [too long] we might see malnutrition and disease. So far there’s been no outbreak, and we’re crossing our fingers.
You’ve been to the delta. How are things on the ground? It’s almost impossible to have a clear picture. The figures are speculation still–deaths, survivors, the number of villages affected, resettlement areas. Some people say 20 percent have been reached. I have no clue actually. It’s impossible to put figures on it. The last census they had on these villages were in the early ’90s–so yeah, all of this is only speculation. Two days ago, our team went on a boat from Bogale. They found two villages that saw a relief team for the first time in three weeks. It seems only the big towns have so far been reached. We are worried about the rural areas. We’re trying to go out as much as possible.
What kind of work needs to be done now? Transportation is complicated; we need to get boats in the area. Communication is also complicated. Everything is quite difficult. But with proper materials, equipment and staff it would be possible to reach everybody in the next two weeks.
How do you plan to mobilize aid workers? In this kind of situation, we usually try to make a short intervention of three to six months. But it’s getting longer and longer. The first thing is to make sure people have shelter, food, clean water and free medical care. We should get this done in the first three months and eventually enter into the reconstruction phase in which government would deal with us. But we’re still in an emergency phase. Normally we do an assessment and then distribution. In this case we are doing both at the same time. Things have to be put together. We need to move faster.
Are you hopeful? Do you think things are too late? I don’t think it’s too late. There’s still time to give space for humanitarian organizations, but as time goes, we might see more malnutrition and outbreak of diseases. Here there’s no red line [because] it has already been crossed. Let’s see if the big [opening] is going to materialize.
