Dominican PM Skerrit vows aid to displaced families, sister islands amid Beryl’s aftermath

Dominica: Prime Minister Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit has announced a significant support for families in Pottersville, Scottshead and other communities along the West Coast of Dominica who were displaced due to damage caused by high sea swells associated with Hurricane Beryl.

While speaking during a live radio show on Wednesday, he also revealed plans for financial assistance to the neighbouring territories of Grenada, Carriacou, Petite Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Dr Skerrit noted that Dominica faced minor wrath of Hurricane Beryl and added, “We did get some damage not significant outside of the impact on the road leading to the ferry terminal and the cabins.”

The Prime Minister continued to say that obviously there are several families whose homes have been flooded by the raging seas and along with west coast from Scott Head all the way up north.

“This is a phenomenon that we are getting accustomed to with the sea getting more inland and the concern that we have been highlighting for a very long time,” he further said while highlighting the need for temporary support and permanent solutions.

He stressed on the government’s willingness to provide permanent solutions for the people living along the coastline which includes temporary support for affected families and moving around 10 families into newly built houses in Scotts Head.

PM Skerrit participates in CARICOM meeting amid the threat of Hurricane Beryl

During the live radio show, the Prime Minister also shed light on the recent CARICOM meeting which took place amid the threats of Hurricane Beryl.

He said that during the meeting the leaders received comprehensive reports from each of the Prime Ministers, highlighting the impacts of the hurricane’s damage.

He mentioned that St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada did suffer in a dramatic way while in Barbados’ case, there have been significant damage and destruction of the fishing industry with 80 percent of it being shattered.

“All of them will need rebuilding, that can be a significant cost, and one can understand not only the immediate loss, but the long term loss because all of these people depending on fishing for survival has been taken away from them,” stated PM Roosevelt Skerrit.

Talking about St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Prime Minister noted that St Vincent has received tremendous damage with several homes, either damaged or destroyed and added, “When the Prime Minister spoke yesterday, there was no electricity on the on mainland Saint Vincent. He said that the people have told him that, best case scenario was 50% of the population will have electricity by Friday.”

Not only this, but he also said that the Union Island and a couple of other islands within the Grenadines, suffered dramatic losses.

He said that all these damages are going to cost the government hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to restore livelihoods.

He further continued to talk about Grenada and said that its sister island Carriacou is reminiscent of Hurricane Maria and the sheer destruction of homes and infrastructure on the island is also going to take a significant amount of money to restore lives and livelihoods.

Dominican Prime Minister vows to financially assist hurricane-hit sister islands

In addition to this, PM Roosevelt Skerrit vowed to help the sister islands who have been severely hit by the Hurricane.

He stated, “In Dominica’s case, we will make a financial contribution, an initial contribution to each of these countries affected and we will start the process of having those funds transferred to them.”

The Prime Minister added that in case of Barbados, the government of Dominica will send in boat builder to assist with the reconstruction of the boat.

He further added, “We’ve offered the kind of assistance to the islands in terms of the reconstruction of roofs, etc., and as quickly as possible, and offered agricultural produce where needed and so we really are on standby and we’re mobilizing support to them.”

The Prime Minister said that it was ’emotional’ for him to listen to the reports from his counterparts because it brought back fresh memories of Hurricane Maria‘s experiences in Dominica and noted from experience that it is going to take them a long time to recover.

Hurricane Beryl came at the worst time

Dr. Skerrit further called it the ‘worst’ time for any hurricane to come as the entire world is grappling with serious challenges related to finances and the cost of living which has increased due to imported inflation and to compound this, with these hurricanes at this time, it is not a good news for many families.

This is why the Dominican leader continued to call on the international community to play their part as ‘It is not fair to us that we have to be suffering like this, because of injustice and I believe that it is really unfair to countries like St Vincent and Grenada and Barbados who have to pick up the pieces in most part on their own because all they’re going to receive are empathetic expressions from the developed world,” he further added.

Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit concluded his address to the nation by saying, “We should not take this hurricane season for granted,” and urged the small islands to take these things seriously as it is just the beginning of the season so a major focus should be on preparing at individual levels for the worst situations.