Prime Minister tours devastated areas
Lynn Young was not the only concerned mainlander flying out to the cayes. Prime Minister Said Musa boarded a British Forces helicopter in Belmopan and before heading north, made a brief inspection of Belize City. News Five’s Stewart Krohn caught up with him as he touched down at the municipal airstrip.
Stewart Krohn
“Prime Minister, for Mitch we understand that you were in Taiwan, so this is really your first hurricane crisis as Prime Minister. How would you rate your government’s performance?”
Prime Minster Said Musa
“I believe the members of NEMO and the district teams have worked very well on a whole. Cleary we’ve had some glitches, lessons to be learnt, but quite frankly, we were very lucky, so far no fatalities. I believe our people worked extremely well under pressure, under strain. Today we are going out to see the extent of the damage in San Pedro and Caye Caulker and clearly, there has been damage here in Belize City as well.”
Stewart Krohn
“Prime Minister, 20/20 hindsight is always the clearest vision, but I think from some quarters a lot of people are going to criticise the government for doing too little too late. How do you respond to that?”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Well, the fact of the matter is that a decision to evacuate, say the residents of the cayes, of the islands, was given careful consideration, but you have to bear in mind that the movement of this hurricane, from a tropical storm to a category four, happened very rapidly and I think on a whole, even with 20/20 hindsight, we cannot fault the decision for asking the people to remain in the shelters. The fact of the matter is that there were no casualties as far we know.”
Stewart Krohn
“Another criticism is that the shelters opened very late, and when they were opened, they weren’t manned. Pandemonium seemed to reign, public officers who were supposed to be in place weren’t. Will you be conducting a review of these procedures?”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Most certainly. That is the one area in which we definitely have to conduct a thorough review in terms of the manning of the shelters and in terms of the food distribution.”
Stewart Krohn
“What good of any do you think will come out of this experience?”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Well, I certainly think we’ve had a modern experience with a fairly powerful hurricane. Clearly, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of preparing the hurricane shelters, several of them leaked for instance. We have a lot of work to do to make our shelters safe and secure and also to move efficiently and effectively in getting the shelters manned, in getting the fuel distribution depots well in place and this sort of thing.”
