L'Arrivo a Vinilandia

[V The King]

All over Viniland, regular television and radio broadcasts were ceased, in order to let the Prime Minister relay an important message to his people:

Vinilandese News Network - Scheduled National Broadcast - 12:00 PM PST

Vinilandese Prime Minister Bento Garibaldi

The image of Bento Garibaldi appeared on the screen. He was seated and had his hands joined together over a polished, empty wooden desk. Behind him there was a Vinilandese flag, attached to the marine blue wall. The setting was simplistic. Maybe a little too humble for the nation's leader? No, that's how Garibaldi liked it.

"Good afternoon, people of Viniland. I am speaking to you all right now in order to make you aware of a huge happening that is currently taking place. As pretty much all of you may know, there has been a recent war were most of Europe and much of many parts of the world were ravaged by power-mongers with the aid of dozens of nuclear weapons. One of - if not the most - plighted by the nuclear holocaust party was the nation of Gebiv, where pretty much the whole country was subject to nuclear attacks.

I trust Viniland's knowledge of geography and demographics... I am confident most of you know that Gebiv used to encompass all of the former Kingdom of Italy plus other territories. Obviously, this means the nation housed dozens of millions of Italians... and many of those people, along with all other Gebivians, were subject to death... *pause* ...and their land turned into a radioactive wasteland... *pause*

Common sense tell us that it is virtually impossible to live in a locality where radiation, sickness and scarcity of basic goods such as water and food. Hence, many of the survivors immediately sought elsewhere to live... and since Viniland is a powerful bastion of the Italian people and culture, such survivors looked to our nation as their new land... however, not only Italians follow suits albeit they are the majority... many Nordlanders are also arriving... Some French, Swiss and Slovene also chose to come...

Through sea or air, on their own or through the government's assistance, they are coming. The official estimates are that there are roughly two million emigrants coming our way. As I speak, the few that chose to emigrate to the Brazilian States have just arrived. However, most of them are inbound to all of the three mainland states plus Alta Vancavite....

Measures are being taken to temporarily house them, as the vast majority of them lost all of they had in the war and bring little more than a bag or suitcase, their clothing and more importantly... hope and determination. Public housing has been erect, some parks and stadiums converted into camps, large swathes of volunteers mobilized, mobile clinics ready and vast supplies of food and basic commodities ready in all major cities plus many of the smaller ones... teachers and other workers were also mobilized in order to ease the emigrés' integration into society.

Since there are so many, yet have so little, I ask the Vinilandese people to welcome and assist both our Italian brethren and the other Gebivian brothers... through whatever necessary means... donate food, clothing, blankets, toys or anything that may be useful, to the newly founded "Gebivian Emigré Relief Commision", or to local charities if you cannot find a GERC nearby... maybe even shelter some into your own residences, if there is room for such...

Thanks for your time, people of Viniland. Assist the many that are coming our way!"

The image faded away, and TV's and radios across the country gave way to their programed schedule.

To be continued...

OOC: Feel free to post international responses and such. Oh, and I asked KM for the demographics of the emigrés before RP'ing.

Edited March 1, 2009 by V The King

[JEDCJT]

The Provisional Government applauds Vinilandese President Bento Garibaldi for his honorable speech. We shall work with Viniland on this.

[V The King]

Calgari, Nova Coimbra

Over the course of the day, Aeroporto di Calgari (Calgary International Airport) received vast amounts of aircrafts at both runaways - mostly military cargo planes, but some commercial planes and jets as well - all of them coming from the Italian Peninsula or elsewhere from Gebiv. The airport remained extremely busy throughout the day, with additional staff being hired in order to handle the extra traffic and passengers. Estimates are that as many as 25,000 Gebivians arrived on the city solely through the airport on that day. When factoring in emigrés coming through land (after landing in Nadrink) to the city, the number doubles to 50,000.

---

Similar situations occurred throughout Viniland's major cities - On the same day, 30,000 made it to Edmonton, 25,000 to Nadrink, 15,000 to Nanaimo, 10,000 to Kelowna, 5,000 to Saskatoon, 4,000 to Regina, 3,500 to Kamloops, 3,000 to Medicine Hat and Cervo (Red Deer) (each) and roughly 40,000 elsewhere in mainland Viniland. In total, 138,500 made it to either Alta Vancavite, Columbina, Nova Coimbra and Rio Grande do Leste on the same day. The daily numbers are expected to remain constant throughout the week.

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When considering the Brazilian states, 100,000 made it to Recife, 90,000 to Salvador, 10,000 to Maceió, 8,000 to Aracajú and 25,000 went elsewhere in the region- 233,000 in total. The number, however, was expected to barely increase since nearly all of those who wanted to make it to the area have already done so thanks to the relative geographical closeness to Gebiv (in comparison to the mainland).

[Gebiv]

"It looks like this operation is proceeding smoothly. We hope our brothers on the peninsula get out safely."

[Subtleknifewielder]

As always, Viniland shows their true sense of honor. We commend you for taking on this task."

[V The King]

OOC: I'll just finish up this RP so I can carry on the rest of my planned refugee-related RP.

IC:

Short Statement From The Office of the Prime Minister:

"We appreciate the current feedback of the international community - we are working as hard as we can to accommodate and integrate the emigrés. And we assure Gebiv your brothers will strive in our nation."

Vinilandese News Network - Update on the Gebivian Refugees

As days went by, more and more refugees crowded the ports and airports of Viniland. In total, roughly 1,950,000 refugees made their way to the country since the massive emigration begun, with about 250,000 going to the Brazilian States and the remaining 1,700,000 arriving in the mainland. Estimates predict that about 100,000 refugees are still due to arrive at latter dates.

The numerical breakdown of the refugee distribution is as follow:

North America:

Alta Vancavite: ~125,000 (115,000 to Nanaimo, 10,000 elsewhere)

Columbina: ~380,000 (210,000 to Nadrink, 80,000 to Kelowna, 28,000 to Kamloops, 75,000 elsewhere)

Nova Coimbra: ~1,015,000 (600,000 to Calgari, 320,000 to Edmonton, 40,000 to Cervo, 35,000 to Medicine Hat, 30,000 elsewhere)

Rio Grande do Leste: ~180,000 (70,000 to Saskatoon, 55,000 to Regina, 65,000 elsewhere)

South America:

Itamaracá: ~150,000 (105,000 to Recife, 10,000 to Maceió, 10,000 to Aracajú, 25,000 elsewhere)

Bahia: ~100,000 (95,000 to Salvador, 5,000 elsewhere)

Note: Despite being a major city, Brasília received virtually no refugees because it is recovering from the biological attacks on the Imperial Union, some of which spilled into the city and led all of the population to live on bunkers while clean-up teams, with their best efforts, eradicate any "spill over" from the world wide conflict that took place months ago. However, the Brasília is estimated to be considered "safe" in the upcoming weeks. (OOC: I'll RP this in more detail later).

The situation:

In most cases, the refugees, as expected by all levels of government, flocked into Viniland's main urban centers. However, nearly 30% of the refugees that went to Rio Grande do Leste settled in rural communities, which was not awaited by the federal government but state and municipal governments managed to take care of the situation.

Thanks to the plethora of jobs created by public and private construction, new public facilities, factories, etc., nearly all refugees found decent-paying jobs as construction laborers, teachers, doctors, factory workers, etc. while they adapt to the country. However, there are fears that in case the economy suffers a setback - or if not enough permanent jobs are created - widespread unemployment among refugees may happen, a situation that must be avoided at all costs - even if the government is compelled to plunge into a debt deeper than it currently has - the government was running a surplus up until the refugee situation - where expenses now total 15% more than revenues.

Most refugees currently live in simplistic conditions, with the majority choosing to rent low-cost housing in developing areas, while some resorted to public housing. They mostly earn modest wages, which is enough to satisfy basic needs but leaves them little money for anything else. Their conditions, though, are expected to improve as permanent, career job opportunities spring up.