CARBY... the other challenge is water

GOVERNMENT yesterday released $250 million to undertake emergency repairs and recovery work from the damage caused by rains associated with Tropical Storms Isidore and Lili.

The money will be used primarily to repair health facilities and water systems, vector control, clearing of blocked roads and drains, building of retaining walls and the patching of potholes.

The labour and social security ministry, in a statement following a meeting with Dean Peart, the labour and social security minister, the finance minister, Omar Davies, and other key government agencies, said provision for the agriculture ministry will be used to provide seeds, feeds and land preparation.

In addition, the labour and social security ministry will be allocated money for the provision of food, bedding and other supplies to families in shelters and those marooned in their homes.

"Rehabilitation grants will also be distributed to families who sustained damage to houses and the loss of basic household items such mattresses," said the ministry statement.

The medium to long term needs of the various sectors will be determined during the course of next week. The extent of the damages and the cost involved for full recovery will be dealt with at a meeting scheduled for October 18," said the ministry.

In the meanwhile, the director-general of the office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Dr Barbara Carby, has said that food supplies, bedding and other comfort items, were being airlifted to communities cut off by landslides or rising water.

She said supplies were also being transported by road to persons in shelters and homes across the island.

"It is not just the shelter population that we have to worry about. It's all those persons who have been affected in one way or another," she told the government's news agency, JIS News.

Dr Carby noted that these included persons who were not in shelters, but who had to leave their homes to stay with friends or relatives because of recent flooding caused by Tropical Storm Lili.

"The other challenge is water," she said, adding that the turbidity of the flood water had negatively affected the availability of potable water. "We have a group working from the Emergency Operations Centre, which is charged with the responsibility of co-ordinating water supplies in those areas which are cut off," she said.

Dr Carby explained that water was being trucked to the nearest points and tanks set up, so that persons could collect domestic water.

At the same time, the National Water Commission said preliminary estimates suggested that it would cost $17 million to repair specific damage to its water supply systems, as a result of the mud and silt washed down by the rains.

Up to last night there were 1,199 people in shelters across the island. In Westmoreland there are 657 people; St Thomas, 69; St Elizabeth, 47; Kingston and St Andrew, 34; St Catherine, 47 persons; and Clarendon, 38.

However, senior director of preparedness at the ODPEM, Ronald Jackson said three emergency shelters in Kingston and St Andrew were expected to be closed today as the situation improved. This development, he said, should see approximately 35 people returning to their homes.

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