[Note: A related U.S. Department of State Fact Sheet follows the transcript text.]
MR. DENIG: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Foreign Press Center. All of you will have seen on the television news over the last several weeks the hurricanes that have been starting in the Atlantic Ocean, spreading through the Caribbean, and then hitting the North American continent, and you have seen the devastation created by those hurricanes.
We're very pleased today that we're able to welcome several colleagues from the United States Agency for International Development to brief on this topic. And I would first like to welcome Adolfo Franco, the Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean; Mr. William Garvelink, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance; as well as other colleagues and experts.
They will brief to us today on the topic of United States Assistance to Hurricane Victims in both Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean, and after opening statements they'll be very glad to take your questions.
Mr. Franco.
MR. FRANCO: Oh, thank you very much, and thank you for the opportunity to come today and talk a little bit about President Bush's commitment to do everything possible to assist those unfortunate victims of the most recent hurricanes that have afflicted the Caribbean region. I'd like just to talk a little bit about Haiti and even beyond Haiti.
Before I do, however, I think it's important to underscore that the United States' commitment to Haiti is longstanding. We are the largest bilateral donor in Haiti, and have been for a number of years. Secretary Powell launched a major conference on mobilizing resources for Haiti in July. On July 19th, as you might recall, the United States pledged $230 million for assistance to Haiti's reconstruction efforts over fiscal years '04 and '05. Today is, by the way, fiscal year '05, the first day of the new fiscal year. So over a two-year period, we have pledged $230 million of assistance for the reconstruction of Haiti.
I know that today's topic as I wanted to talk about, along with my colleague, Bill Garvelink, has to do with the unanticipated disasters that have recently afflicted Haiti and other Caribbean countries.
So in addition to this very generous support that the President -- Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID, is the person really marshalling and in charge of these resources – has provided. In addition to this assistance, we've responded very, very quickly to these most recent natural disasters. To date, we've provided approximately $5 million -- and Bill will talk a little more specifically about the types of assistance of emergency nature, particularly in the Gonaives area in the northwest of Haiti that has been largely hit as a consequence of the flooding of Hurricane Jeanne -- and an additional $8.6 million, which we have redirected.
We have resources on the ground that we have redirected to tend to the immediate needs in the country. We have an excellent professional team on the ground so as to ensure that basic necessities -- namely, water and food -- are provided, as well as medical care to those that are most in need. The most acute area -- and Bill will provide more details of this -- has been, as I mentioned, in the Gonaives area. I can tell you that the reports to date have indicated that, in terms of transport, happily, we're able to get food on the ground, which is our preferred method of delivery. We're working very hard to ensure that we have adequate distribution centers. This is a problem throughout the country, irrespective of the hurricanes that have aggravated the situation, but we do have, because of our longstanding programs in the country, very sophisticated partners such as CARE, working in Haiti that have distribution centers, who are utilizing their expertise and the other programs that have been ongoing on the health and feeding programs in the past, to distribute water and food.
But that is the largest challenge we face, and, of course, in a chaotic situation, the same thing in our own country, I want to say what I have said during the past few days to other members of the press: We understand and share and the President is very committed to doing everything we can as quickly as we can. In a disaster, one simply can never get there fast enough. The same applies to Florida or it applies to any place in the world. We understand that when there is human suffering, the need is immediate, so we're responding as quickly as we do everywhere in the world through our Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to these needs. The situation in Haiti has been improving. Security has been improving, in terms of distribution centers in the Gonaives area, most particularly.
I'd just like to just briefly highlight the $8.6 million being redirected and $5 million of new assistance. I'd like to also state that there is a $50 million reconstruction package for the hurricanes that the President has asked for in supplemental funding for the Haiti and Caribbean effort. This $50 million is part of the President's request for a comprehensive response to the disasters of Hurricane Ivan and Charlie and the other storms such as Jeanne that have affected the United States. So $50 million of that will be provided for the Caribbean region.
To date, though, to reiterate, $8.5 million is being redirected, almost $5 million -- $4.8 million -- has been provided through our Office of Disaster Assistance, for a total of $13.3 million, and of that amount, we have provided approximately $2.7 million to Haiti immediately as emergency humanitarian assistance and the remainder has been provided to -- of course, you don't want to forget the devastation in Grenada, where 90, 95 percent of the homes have been either destroyed or severely affected. We provided almost a million dollars -- $900,000 -- to Grenada and $400,000 to the Bahamas in emergency humanitarian assistance. In addition, another $700,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance have been provided to Jamaica.
This has been the immediate response. The supplemental request for $50 million will be in addition to this amount.
And with that, Bill, maybe I can pass over to you on some of the specifics that we're doing, in terms of the resources that we're quickly allocating to the region.
MR. GARVELINK: Just a couple of comments on how we, in our Foreign Disasters Office, prepare for the hurricane season each year, which is from June through November. As the season approaches, we've put teams in the Caribbean in different places -- in Barbados -- and these teams are prepared to respond to the hurricanes. So as the season begins, we keep teams who are normally here in Washington or in our regional office in Costa Rica in the various islands in the Caribbean, and we rotate them through every month or six weeks so there's always people on the ground who are ready to respond.
And as a result, as these hurricanes move through the Caribbean, in most cases, we had people on the ground who are working for us in the particular countries in place and ready to respond before the hurricanes arrived, actually. And these groups, as they work through the Caribbean regions, are in constant contact with the Civil Defense Agencies in each of the countries. We know the people very well. We work closely with them year-round. So when these hurricanes happen, everybody is familiar with everyone else, we know what each other does, and we have a good system of communicating, not just within and among the islands, but back here and in our regional office in Costa Rica.
So in most cases, we were responding the day after the hurricane passed through. In a couple instances, it took a little longer than that because the storm threat continued and we had to wait for those to settle down. The two places where we responded most extensively, in Grenada and Haiti, has been mostly life-saving assistance. It's largely food and food distribution started very quickly after the storms passed. Shelter material is provided, plastic sheeting so people can repair very quickly their homes or protect their goods. Clean water is provided, water jugs so that you can collect clean water and take it home with you. One of the biggest difficulties is when there is clean water, you have no way to store it, so water jugs become a very important thing.
We clear the roads. Chainsaws are provided at times to cut trees down and clear the way so that vehicles can get through. In Haiti, in particular, food was provided by CARE in the Gonaives area. CARE is the big provider and has opened its warehouse to anyone with relief supplies, to store them, and that they have provided their relief supplies to any organization that could help distribute them. So CARE has played a very central role. In addition to the shelter materials, water and sanitation, health supplies have also been provided to hospitals and clinics.
So those are the essential goods in a hurricane situation: water, sanitation, shelter, food and medical supplies. We've responded quickly in all five of these countries.
MR. DENIG: We'd be happy to take your questions at this point.
QUESTION: Yes, (inaudible). I'm from Haiti. I'm an independent journalist, (inaudible) for Costa Rica and Washington and (inaudible) Spanish wire and (inaudible) edition. So I was a little bit lost with the figure that tried to resume them so I could ask questions. You about a global package $230 million. I was in Washington when --
MR. FRANCO: In July.
QUESTION: -- Mr. Powell talked about that. All right. And then, talked about a $5 million. My question is, do I have to subtract the figures from -- (inaudible) the $5 million from the $230 --
MR. FRANCO: No. No, the $230 million, to be clear, is part of an effort -- as you know, it's $1.3 billion that has been marshaled with the United States leadership -- involved the President's leadership, the Secretary's leadership -- $1.3 billion in July, and of that, $230 million over two fiscal years for other than immediate hurricane relief. So you do not subtract that from it.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.) Sorry, this (inaudible) entity is something else.
MR. FRANCO: Correct.
QUESTION: Not have to be included in --
QUESTION: Emergency.
MR. FRANCO: That's correct.
QUESTION: And then we talk about a $8.5 million.
MR. FRANCO: Right.
QUESTION: That's relocation -- I mean, relocated money?
QUESTION: Redirected?
MR. FRANCO: First of all, the $5 million is from our Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, which Bill represents, that's provided this $5 million for the hurricane relief efforts he just described.
MR. GARVELINK: And for all five -- for Bahamas, Jamaica --
MR. FRANCO: For Bahamas -- the region.
MR. GARVELINK: -- Grenada, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
MR. FRANCO: Right, right. The region.
QUESTION: The region.
MR. FRANCO: The region. In addition, we have $8.5 million that's not part of the $230 from our ongoing bilateral programs. I mentioned earlier we have a very large bilateral program in the region. We redirected $8.5 million of other activities that were ongoing, not the $230, and not the $5 million -- in the region --
QUESTION: In the region.
MR. FRANCO: -- $8.5 million.
QUESTION: Mr. Franco, you said that USAID is acting very rapidly to help Haiti and other countries in the Caribbean.
MR. FRANCO: Yes.
QUESTION: Can you tell us how quick the aid, the assistance, will materialize to help the population on the field in order to have them meet urgent needs?
MR. FRANCO: The hurricane?
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR. FRANCO: It's being met right now. I want to preface this with what President Bush has said, and what Governor Bush has said: our empathy, we understand the need, whether it's in Haiti or Grenada or Jamaica or anyplace when people don't have electricity, when they don't have food to eat, an hour's too long to wait. But there is a very rapid response, particularly by our Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, which is on the ground, and the CARE network is on the ground, so the distribution is taking place. We've distributed, I think, 100,000 jugs of water.
MR. GARVELINK: Yes.
MR. FRANCO: We have food on the ground. Our biggest challenge, and it's being addressed and it's rapidly improving, as I mentioned earlier, has been a distribution issue. We are distributing food. We'd like to distribute it in more centers, but we want to do this responsibly and in a secure fashion, and we are doing that right now. So the response has been very, very rapid and very comprehensive.
QUESTION: You said that -- and you just repeated it -- that the distribution process is getting better and better. Can you share with us any news you may have about the current situation, especially in Grenada?
MR. FRANCO: Well -- I don't know if you have some report, Bill, you want to talk about Grenada, or I have --
MR. GARVELINK: Well, as Adolfo said, we're expanding our ability to provide food. We had two distribution sites initially, now we're up to seven or eight. And I think we're starting to reach most areas -- Gonaives right now -- with food assistance. And so it's expanding on a daily basis as more vehicles are available, as streets become cleaned out so that the vehicles can move around more, which has been a problem. Because of the flooding and the mudslides, it's been difficult to move around. So as that cleans out, we've reached more and more people.
QUESTION: Okay. And to finish, to get through the figures.
MR. FRANCO: Okay.
QUESTION: You have requested from Congress an additional $50 million package for the Caribbean?
MR. FRANCO: The Caribbean region, that's correct.
QUESTION: And you said all year $2.7 million have been released already, 2.7.
MR. FRANCO: Two --
QUESTION: From the money.
MR. FRANCO: No, the $2.7 million is of the $8.6 million we have redirected from ongoing programs in the region.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. FRANCO: Of that amount, $2.7 million are redirected emergency humanitarian activities in Haiti.
QUESTION: So you know that in Haiti the distribution had problems with (inaudible) trying to, you know, trying to keep the food in --
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. FRANCO: (Inaudible.)
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. FRANCO: Security, you're right.
QUESTION: Is it a major problem with --
MR. FRANCO: Well, I mean, we can talk about -- we could talk about security, we're concerned about security. In terms of the convoys that have been supported by the UN forces, we have had no problems or reports of problems in those convoys at all.
MR. GARVELINK: No, I think, initially after the mudslides and all the flooding in Gonaives that it was very difficult for the peacekeeping forces to work around. So it took a few days for those guys to get together and be able to provide assistance --
MR. FRANCO: Necessary security.
MR. GARVELINK: -- for the distribution of supplies. So that seems to be working now, now that the supplies have started to move.
QUESTION: All right, besides money, did you plan any technical team in to help the rebuilding?
MR. GARVELINK: Well, we have a team on the ground, but up to this point, we've focused really on emergency assistance, and that's health care in hospitals and in facilities. There's mobile medical teams that move around to provide assistance, the shelter materials so people can, you know, cover the holes in their houses or cover the roofs to protect their supplies, and then water and sanitation equipment, the water jugs. That's been the focus up to this point and our office will now begin to focus a little bit more on rehabilitation activities, and there's some cash for work and housing and repairs and rehabilitation. But up till this point, it's been the emergency --
QUESTION: On another issue, the relocation of people (inaudible) because the people situation, because the mud is being dried, bodies of people, bodies of animals, and it's very difficult to build with all the problems. We had a chance to (inaudible) yesterday and one of the Congress was a woman. She talked about the need to move people by group and priority and (inaudible) in other place so people can (inaudible). You have nothing to do with that process?
MR. FRANCO: Let me just say what I know, Bill, on it. We have been in touch with the Government of Haiti on that process. The Prime Minister has suggested some temporary measures to address particularly that issue -- as you've said, mostly to clear up areas that have been very badly affected. We are looking at that. We have not been requested as of today by the Minister of Health or the Prime Minister to do anything specifically, but the Government of Haiti has expressed an interest in exploring it. What we don't want to do is set up a bunch of temporary camps or things of that kind that are going to possibly create more problems in the longer term. We're trying to avoid that if we can.
QUESTION: I am, by the way, Lyonel Desmarattes from the Voice of America in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Bellamy, who is the Director of UNICEF, UN agency, has just visited the area, and she has expressed some fear about the possibility on epidemic to develop in the Gonaives region. I would like to know what can USAID, what is the USAID doing to help in that regard.
MR. GARVELINK: Well, just a couple of comments. I think that what she was probably referring to is an expansion of malaria because of the stagnant water. Now, we can take a number of steps and we will and are to get rid of the standing water, you know, just very basic things like drain it and you can spray it to make sure that the mosquitoes don't breed there. That is the main concern, I think, at this time and we're addressing that with UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organization.
MR. MARX [DISASTER RESPONSE TEAM LEADER, OFFICE OF FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE, USAID]: Yes, Pan-American Health Organization and our own CDC have a surveillance team on the ground right now, so there is a surveillance of this going on. We're monitoring it. The last reports I have -- we're all concerned about potential problems. We do not have a report of any epidemic. We don't have a report of any problems, even with respect to the bodies, (inaudible) people who were actually working on this issue. So we do not have any report of any widespread epidemic or significant health problems in Gonaives, with one exception, is we are concerned about the general hospital in Gonaives that it has adequate supplies and it can operate. Obviously, in this type of disaster, everything has been disrupted and is not optimum. But we don't -- we do have a surveillance with our own CDC as well.
QUESTION: I have a final question about the disbursement process, the lack of money. So the disbursement will depend on the project of the request of the government, or do we have a calendar, progress, one by one, problems --
QUESTION: Or to intervene directly on the field?
MR. GARVELINK: Well, on the emergency side of things, we do grants or we grant funds to NGOs like CARE or to UN agencies or the Pan American Health Organization directly by either letters of credit or grant agreements that are arranged very quickly. The $5 million our office has provided has been sent. It's there and it's being used right now. So that goes very quickly. That's done in a matter of hours or a day.
MR. FRANCO: That's right. But can I just say about the other funding, I mean, just as Bill has said, you know, we've provided over 5,000 water containers, 3,600 hygiene kits, plastic sheeting. So this money already that we're referring to from our disaster assistance has been spent or is being spent very, very quickly to address these needs. If not, we would have a catastrophe on our hands and we do not have a catastrophe because President Bush and this Administration have responded very, very quickly to address these needs. And there's a lot of suffering, but we're tending to those basic needs.
The other -- when you said the other sums of money, as you know, this had to do -- and I wanted to underscore our long-term, the President's long-term commitments to Haiti -- has to do with reconstruction infrastructure, port security, a number of other things that are ongoing in country. Those projects are ongoing. In the northwest they have been in some cases suspended temporarily because of the flooding, but that money is on a disbursement schedule. We don't intend to, in any way -- I know you asked a very good question earlier: Is this being subtracted? This is not being subtracted from the $230 million commitment or our other bilateral programs. This is in addition to, and as well as the President's request for $50 million for the Caribbean as a whole.
QUESTION: Okay. If I understand, you intervened directly to the NGOs and, secondly, the government can ask question about, you know, the project and (inaudible)?
MR. FRANCO: Well, correct. On the emergency side, yes. On the emergency side. On the other side, we work, of course, with the government and with NGOs. We do both. Some of the assistance that we provide through our bilateral programs of assistance are channeled through this particular government, which has demonstrated a very good record on its commitment to rebuild the society. So we're doing everything we can to work with the Government of Gerard LaTortue and his ministries.
QUESTION: In Florida, which is the closest U.S. state to Haiti, they have already some organizations that are accustomed to helping Haiti in case these last hurricanes. Do you work with those organizations? Do you contact them in order to profit of the experience in this kind of operation? For example, I know the case of Surfside in a little city next to Miami, they have what they call the Surfside team that goes to Haiti regularly in such occasion.
MR. FRANCO: Well, the answer to that is yes, and twofold. Let me say about what the Florida situation is, Governor Bush, who is extremely concerned about this, has formed a commission, an advisory commission on Haiti. He has appointed me to serve on that commission. We're meeting on Monday, our first meeting. I spoke to the governor two or three times last week on this issue.
We are consulting with the Haitian-American organizations, but unlike the past, we would like to do what Secretary Powell did in July; instead of meeting with individual organizations, we would like to set up, as Governor Bush has, a commission to have representatives of the different Haitian diaspora communities be able to serve in an advisory capacity.
So we're doing exactly what the President and the Secretary did for the international community at the state level with the Haitian diaspora community. In addition to that, at Administrator Natsios' request, I've met with the Haitian community in Chicago and twice in New York to do the same thing. We are continuing to consult in a formalized way that we've never done in the past to address these needs, hurricane and otherwise.
QUESTION: Okay, thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thanks a lot.
MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, gentlemen.
