Houses given to victims of Hurricane Dean

Hurricane Dean hit Belize in 2007. It is gone but not forgotten. Two hundred and seventy-five houses were completely destroyed in Corozal and sixty were also leveled in Orange Walk and help has finally arrived. Fifty two families in Orange Walk and Corozal Districts, who were victims of the hurricane, received the keys to their new houses on Tuesday afternoon during a ceremony in San Narciso Village. The total cost was near one point eight million dollars for the homes. The building project was funded by the European Union and was administered through the Ministry of Economic Development. Minister Erwin Contreras handed over the keys to some relieved homeowners. The head of the European Commision Marco Alemanni, spoke to the gathering and said despite the world financial crisis, they haven’t forgotten their promises to help in other regions.

Ambassador Marco Mazzochi Alemanni, European Commissioner
“When Hurricane Dean hit Belize as other countries in the region, we thought we had to do something as speedily as we could. Certainly, BRDP that Dr. Avila heads, having such a good tract record, we thought that we had better mobilize Dr. Avila’s troops and with the money that was still at out disposal, to do something for the communities that had been hit. This is why today we are formally commissioning forty-four houses that were built, twenty pre-existing houses that were repaired, ten hurricane shelters that were refurbished and twelve agricultural projects that were initiated. This all came at a cost of one point eight million Belizean dollars and it was implemented through the help and support of a very good Belizean organization, which is the Social Investment Fund that I would wish to salute today. Dear friends, there is a big hurricane blowing throughout the world and it has lasted a few days, it has been lasting already for many months and maybe it will last for several more years. It’s the global financial and economic crisis. Many countries are shrinking their budgets, budgets that they deem not immediately necessary but Europe is no shrinking its budgets of development cooperation. Europe is keeping its promises to Belize.”