Segodnya – online-version
05 August, 2008 20:38
By Mikhail Gannitskiy
http://www.segodnya.ua/news/12050013.html

We learnt about developments in the flooded regions from a person who had been among the first to come and help. Svetlana Panushkina, project manager of the Foundation for Development of Ukraine told Segodnya about the current situation in the western Ukraine, the local areas suffered from the flood, and the actual help provided by the government to locals left homeless. Svetlana was among the first to have arrived to help. The Foundation allocated funds to buy food for inhabitants of the cut-off villages. So, this fragile lady with soldiers had to unload trucks with food and deliver it to locals by helicopter.

— When we came to the west of Ukraine to help, no one appeared to know what villages suffered the most and how to reach them. Officials were busy with getting ready to prime-minister Yu.Timoshenko’s arrival. I couldn’t get information from them. So, I approached Ruslana Lyzhichko, a singer born in Ivano-Frankovsk Region. She took me to heads of regional state administration and Verkhovina District suffered the most. It was difficult to find vehicles to transport food and Ruslana was of much help here too. She knew a forwarder, who gave us a truck to deliver aid closer to the victims. We set off late in the evening and arrived in Verkhovina at night, met the head of regional state administration… He showed the map with cut-off villages marked, and we developed an action plan.… We decided firstly to help more populated villages. Servicemen came to rescue and provided helicopters. I would just say to the senior officer where we had to fly and he would inform when the craft would be ready … We would fly 6-10 times a day.

We were the first to provide actual aid out of those declaring their readiness to help. I’ve flown to all villages, to some of them – twice and more. We would bring up to 1-2 tons of food kits and firstly give them to people that had nothing left – no house, no vegetable garden. We would take pregnant women and sick on the way back.… A woman with a baby after a heart surgery went to the Western Ukraine to improve health. She felt much worse obviously after all that. We took her away and another woman from another village with sepsis. She contracted it because of the water. … Problems emerged every time we tried to take off. We could take just as many as 10-15 people but every time 20-30 of them came. … We always faced curses of those remained. A clash broke out once and the crew had it hard...

— What was in the kits?

— Sunflower oil, sugar, rice, buckwheat, tinned fish, flour. We had even to buy more sunflower oil. Locals said you can live if you have it, as you can fry something and it makes the situation easier. …

— Was it scary to fly in bad weather?

— Bad is not the word! The helicopter was thrown to sides and run the risk of falling down! At the end one of helicopters crashed… We were on the verge of death once. You can't even imagine how my family felt. They knew I was flying all the time, and then the media reported about the crash, and my mobile was out of coverage …

— According to your observations, what are the authorities doing to help people now?

— They are giving money, provide soldiers to dig out houses. But there's nothing to spend funds on now: roads are destroyed, no access to deliver food to shops … I've never seen anybody but me delivering food. Local businessmen give parcels to fellow villagers, not in tons though, rather in a package up to several sacks of flour. … I was surprised the government didn't take steps to construct and restore roads. They are just starting to do designing! Winter will come soon and it's known that much time will pass in our country from a project to its realization. Think about the people that need to go to work and buy food in winter. What should they do? Wait for another resolution of the government? We decided not to sit and send two heavy vehicles to operate there. It might appear to be not much compared to the scale of the tragedy but it is at least something to help people get to the regional center.

— Is it so bad with roads?

— There are no roads at all. Just ragged rocks and washed away spaces instead. If locals hadn't told there was a road on the place we were going along, I'd perhaps have never guessed. Asphalt remained here and there yet no proper infrastructure is in place.

— What are the first priority needs of the victims apart from food?

— Snakes are terribly aggressive because of much water and warmth. Villagers in cut-off sites need a snake bite vaccine badly. The government is working to deliver it.