After
Sandy,
Diplomats Work
from UN Not
Dark Missions,
Chinese
Generator,
Windex in 3B
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 2 --
Hurricane
Sandy's impact
on the UN,
downplayed
in a "rosy"
November 1
press
conference by
UN officials,
was not
limited to the
UN
Secretariat's
downed e-mail
and website
and corridors
in its "3B"
third sub
basement "like
the movie
Titanic" --
countries'
missions were
also impacted.
Among
the Permanent
Five members
of the
Security
Council, only
China had
its Mission's
power cut off.
It is located
on 35th
Street, four
blocks into
the blackout
zone.
Inner City
Press has been
told that a
generator
turned on and
stayed on,
unlike at
nearly NYU and
Bellevue
Hospitals. But
with Con Ed
still off,
some UN
thinkers are
looking
at the Host
Country
Agreement.
Despite lack
of electricity
and even
running water
in Chinatown
where he
lives, a
worker at the
Vienna Cafe
has remained
upbeat, even
as the volume
of coffee cups
and left over
sushi and
pastries as
risen with
increased use
of the Cafe.
Another
sample
Security
Council
member, South
Africa, still
has the power
in
its 38th
Street Mission
off. Permanent
Representative
Baso Sangqu
and his
political
coordinator
took off
Thursday
evening
leading a
Council
mini trip to
Timor Leste.
But its other
diplomats
remained
working in
New York,
visible in the
UN's Vienna
Cafe, having a
wide range of
meetings. The
same could be
said of
Indonesia,
with its
building on
the same 38th
Street block
as South
Africa's
mission.
Just as
neither rain
nor snow nor
"gloom of
night" were
said to stop
deliverers of
mail,
countries'
diplomacy
continues,
even when the
UN Secretariat
leaves its web
site down for
days.
Another
country's
Permanent
Representative
told how his
wife took
visitors to
Union Square
and found
"food being
handed out, no
power... like
a war zone."
Diplomats
in
and beyond the
Security
Council
complained to
Inner City
Press on
Friday about
the UN's
response to
Hurricane
Sandy, and
about public
statements
since that
some call
"misleading."
For its part,
despite a
statement
November 1 at
2 pm that the
Un's website
would be "back
up" that day,
Inner City
Press noted
this was not
the case at 5
pm that day,
see Twitter
photo here.
At 5 pm on
November 2,
the UN website
was still
"unavailable...
undergoing
urgent
maintenance."
A
long-time
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press the
UN
Secretariat
"asked for
money to be
Number One in
preparedness
and business
continuity,
but look at
this -- email
down, member
states weren't
kept
informed." We
will have more
on this on
Monday, if not
before.
Staff
members
complained to
Inner City
Press they are
being "forced"
back to work
in the nether
regions of the
UN, given
"only Windex
and a dust
mask." One
asked, "Will
they even have
an OSHA
certified
inspection? Is
it safe?"
Inner
City Press at
Friday's noon
briefing, the
first in a
week, asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey
about the
inspection,
and safety. He
said he would
look into any
inspection.
We'll see.
Watch this
site.
, 
