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Added on the 22/05/2020 14:25:57 - Copyright : Euronews EN
Lisbon, Sep 18 (EFE), (Camera: Paula Fernández).- The pandemic has not only caused infections and deaths in Portugal but it has also lead to poverty. Thousands of workers with stable jobs who overnight they stopped earning money and now have to turn to charity to survive.According to data from the Portuguese Institute for Employment and Vocational Training, in July there were 407,000 people registered in the unemployment centres, 37% more than a year ago, although the figure is highly questioned by economists, unions and politicians who point out that the real unemployment rate is even higher.FOOTAGE OF FOOD BANK IN LISBON AND FAMOES PARISH IN ODIVELAS. SOUNDBITES OF:-ISABEL JONET, PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE FEDERATION OF FOOD BANKS: "In two months we received more than 60,000 people asking for help. It is a huge increase, incredibly huge. It happened overnight. We started to receive requests and more requests. There were days when we received 2,000 help requests. It was very distressing because we did not see that entities were able to respond to all these people.""They are people who had never experienced poverty and suddenly, from one moment to another, they were left with nothing. They had no money, not even a euro because they had nowhere to work. Their workplaces were closed. For example, we are talking about hairdressers, personal trainers, physical therapists, dentists, beauticians, domestic workers, street vendors, taxi drivers, Uber drivers ... "."A fifth of the population lives in a situation of poverty. This kind of poverty was traditionally more linked to age, people with low retirement pensions. A set of measures was implemented, such as the solidarity supplement for the elderly or the increase in lower pensions, but we still have people with pensions below 180 euros a month."-SOFIA MARTINS, COORDINATOR OF THE FOOD BANK AT THE FAMOES PARISH COMMUNITY CENTRE:"Before the pandemic, until March, the food bank helped 48 families from Pontinha and Famões. Nowadays, in August, they are about 140 families. There was a fairly significant increase due to the pandemic."-PAULO PINHEIRO, DIRECTOR OF THE FAMOES PARISH COMMUNITY CENTRE:"Poverty is not only visible, but it is always a kind of iceberg. There is a type of poverty outside, visible, and people take the initiative and turn to help. But there is also a group of families to whom it is very difficult to help because it is ashamed poverty, they are not used to it or they do not want to say publicly that they are overcoming (financial) difficulties."-ANA PAULA, NEIGHBOUR WHO HAS TURNED TO THE FOOD BANK:"My husband and my baby tested positive and I had to stay at home to take care of them. I was laid-off at work and during the pandemic, I could not leave home since I had to self-isolate after tested positive. I sought help by calling the City Council and the community centre."
Lisbon, Sep 18 (EFE), (Camera: Paula Fernández).- The pandemic has not only caused infections and deaths in Portugal but it has also lead to poverty. Thousands of workers with stable jobs who overnight they stopped earning money and now have to turn to charity to survive.According to data from the Portuguese Institute for Employment and Vocational Training, in July there were 407,000 people registered in the unemployment centres, 37% more than a year ago, although the figure is highly questioned by economists, unions and politicians who point out that the real unemployment rate is even higher.FOOTAGE OF FOOD BANK IN LISBON AND FAMOES PARISH IN ODIVELAS. SOUNDBITES OF:-ISABEL JONET, PRESIDENT OF THE Portuguese Federation of Food Banks: "In two months we received more than 60,000 people asking for help. It is a huge increase, incredibly huge. It happened overnight. We started to receive requests and more requests. There were days when we received 2,000 help requests. It was very distressing because we did not see that entities were able to respond to all these people.""They are people who had never experienced poverty and suddenly, from one moment to another, they were left with nothing. They had no money, not even a euro because they had nowhere to work. Their workplaces were closed. For example, we are talking about hairdressers, personal trainers, physical therapists, dentists, beauticians, domestic workers, street vendors, taxi drivers, Uber drivers ... "."A fifth of the population lives in a situation of poverty. This kind of poverty was traditionally more linked to age, people with low retirement pensions. A set of measures was implemented, such as the solidarity supplement for the elderly or the increase in lower pensions, but we still have people with pensions below 180 euros a month."-SOFIA MARTINS, COORDINATOR OF THE FOOD BANK AT THE FAMOES PARISH COMMUNITY CENTRE:"Before the pandemic, until March, the food bank helped 48 families from Pontinha and Famões. Nowadays, in August, they are about 140 families. There was a fairly significant increase due to the pandemic ".-PAULO PINHEIRO, DIRECTOR OF THE FAMOES PARISH COMMUNITY CENTRE:"Poverty is not only visible, but it is always a kind of iceberg. There is a type of poverty outside, visible, and people take the initiative and turn to help. But there is also a group of families to whom it is very difficult to help because it is ashamed poverty, they are not used to it or they do not want to say publicly that they are overcoming (financial) difficulties."-ANA PAULA, NEIGHBOR WHO HAS TURNED TO THE FOOD BANK:"My husband and my baby tested positive and I had to stay at home to take care of them. I was laid-off at work and during the pandemic, I could not leave home since I had to self-isolate after tested positive. I sought help by calling the City Council and the community center."
Bangkok, Mar 24 (EFE/EPA).- Various restaurants and food chains have set up social distancing stalls for home delivery services as a precaution against the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic at a closed shopping mall in Bangkok.Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Tuesday announced an emergency decree to be put in place on Thursday until the end of April, but details of specific measures, which could include curfew and restrictions on movement and media, are yet to be announced. The government also reported three new deaths due to coronavirus on Tuesday – Thai men aged 70, 79 and 45 with underlying health conditions – bringing the total to four, with 106 new cases, bringing the total to 827. (Camera: RUNGROJ YONGRIT).FOOTAGE SHOWS FOOD DELIVERT SERVICES IN A SHOPPING MALL, BANGKOK, THAILAND.
Colombo, Sep 15 (EFE/EPA).- Sri Lanka continued Wednesday under the state of food emergency with a shortage of essential food items across the country amid tight COVID-19 lockdown.The Sri Lankan government imposed emergency regulations under the Public Security Ordinance on Aug. 31 to curtail sky rocketing prices of essential food items.The Island’s Consumer Affairs Authority launched raids on black market retailers and acquired some food stocks by traders and food importers. (Camera: CHAMILA KARUNARATHNE).SHOT LIST: PEOPLE AWAIT THEIR TURN TO PURCHASE ESSENTIAL PRODUCTS IN SHORT SUPPLY INCLUDING RICE AND SUGAR FROM THE STATE-RUN RETAIL SALES OUTLET IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA AND OFFICIALS FROM SRI LANKA’S CONSUMER AFFAIRS AUTHORITY (CAA) INSPECTS SAMPLE OF RICE AND SUGAR AT WHOLESALE CENTER AND WAREHOUSE IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA.
Madrid, Jun 27 (EFE), (Camera: Manuel Única) .- While thousands of Madrid residents prepare their suitcases for a summer getaway after more than a year of restrictions due to the pandemic, another part of the population is still seriously affected by the economic crisis, so neighborhood associations, foundations and solidarity organizations ask for more donations to fill their pantries since they know that "hunger does not go on vacation."FOOTAGE OF FOOD BANKS IN MADRID
Rome, Apr 16 (EFE) .- (Camera: Álvaro Padilla) Some 2,000 families wait for the bodies of their deceased relatives to be cremated in Rome, a situation that on Friday led to some thirty workers from the capital's funeral sector to protest the delays of the burocracy.FOOTAGE OF THE PROTEST.SOUNDBITES AND TRANSLATIONS OF GIOVANNI CACIOLI, NATIONAL SECRETARY FOR THE FUNERAL HOME FEDERATION:1- "It is the only city in all of Italy that asks to present an authorization in one place, so that it then goes to the City Council, which re-examines it and then issues another permit that will go back to AMA to return to whoever asks for approval."2- "At this time, around two thousand bodies are in the municipal warehouses of Flaminio and Verano according to the authorities, but it is only the tip of the iceberg, since the 200 or 300 bodies incinerated weekly have had to wait many weeks ".3- "This means leaving families who lost someone 30, 40 or 50 days ago thinking about where the husband, father or son will be. This translates into very hard psychological or existential problems."4.- "Workers cannot accept a situation like this, not because they lose money, but because they become the support of the families and cannot leave them alone."
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