After
Sandy, UN
Slammed by
States For
Broken Email,
Flooded Cars
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 5 --
The UN's
own response
to Super Storm
Sandy was
slammed by
many of its
member states
on Monday, in
a session of
the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee.
New chairman
Miguel Berger,
Germany's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative,
had told Inner
City Press
about the
session late
last week;
other Ambassadors
were already
mocking the
UN's claims of
preparedness
and its "overly
rosy" November
2 press
conference.
On
November 5,
Berger began
by noting the
breakdown in
UN
communications,
such that
states'
Missions heard
almost nothing
from
the UN. The
next state,
Algeria, said
the only
e-mail it got
was from
New York City
Commissioner
Tivens, Mayor
Bloomberg's
sister, who
covers
diplomat and
consular
affairs. If
she could
e-mail, why
not
the UN?
Cote
d'Ivoire noted
that $50
million was
spend on the
computer
back-up
center, in New
Jersey. Should
it stay there?
Denmark,
which
rarely
publicly
criticizes the
UN, said that
the failed
response was
"a blow to the
UN's
authority" in
the field of
disaster
preparedness.
Other
diplomats
complained
they were told
to move their
cars in the UN
garage from
the first
basement to
the third,
then told only
on
Monday, when
they could not
reach the UN,
to move them
up. (Inner
City Press on
Monday
afternoon
witnessed some
staff and
diplomats
nevertheless
moving their
cars). Those
cars on 3B
have been
damaged.
Under
Secretary
General for
Management
Yukio Takasu
was left to
fend off
these
questions. He
pointed out
that he had
said the
damage was
"relatively
contained,"
not "minor."
Neither
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon nor
his chief of
staff Susana
Malcorra
attended --
although
Malcorra will
be in the
Committee
later in the
week, Berger
said.
At
Monday's noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky a
question posed
by Brazil:
will there be
any outside
review
of the UN's
response?
Nesirky
referred to an
internal
review, the
one being led
by Susana
Malcorra.
Nesirky's
Deputy
Eduardo Del
Buey was asked
by Inner City
Press on
Friday if
there will be
any OSHA
certified
inspection of
the areas of
the third
sub-basement
being are
being sent to
work in, armed
only with dust
masks and
Windex.
Still
no word on
that. But
Inner City
Press is
informed that
other 3B
workers were
told they
could only go
to retrieve
items with
sentimental
value if they
wear boots and
disinfect
their clothes;
no
pregnant women
allowed.
Does
this sound
like a safe
place to work,
or
an
Organization
that should be
allowed to
muddle through
this without
outside
inspection or
review? Watch
this site.
Footnote:
also
at Monday's
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked UN
deputy
chief
humanitarian
John Ging
about cholera
in Haiti. He
said it's a
concern, that
it could
spread. There
was word
Friday that
Ban would
be announcing
a program with
that country's
government.
But Nesirky
had nothing on
this on
Monday.
A skeptic
mused that
while member
states said
virtually
nothing
publicly when
the UN brought
cholera to
Haiti, some
are speaking
vehemently
about damage
to their cars.
But
oversight has
to begin
somewhere.
, 
