Barrow declares disaster areas
Cabinet met this morning and one of their decisions was to declare the Stann Creek District and that portion of the Belize district around Gales Point disaster areas. At a press conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow told the media that they decided on the move after conferring with the UNICEF Representative in Belize, Rana Flowers, and in light of the seriousness of the situation.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“A definition of the term disaster and I would like to read that for you: Any adverse event, natural or human induced which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of a society or community, giving wise to casualties and or damage to property, infrastructure, essential services and means of livelihood on a scale which is beyond the capacity of the affected society to cope with, without assistance. We have put our heads together and we are positive that what has happened qualifies that event as a disaster and so we’re taking the formal step, as I said, of declaring the two areas disaster areas.”
George Lovell, Coordinator, NEMO
“As at midday today, we have some seven hundred and thirty displaced persons in shelters countrywide. We have four confirmed deaths and there are still three missing persons. The total affected personnel in the Stann Creek District was some four thousand, but I also want to mention that we also had other areas that were impacted throughout the country. In O.W. we had some five thousand. In the Belize district some two hundred and fifty, Corozal three thousand five hundred or so personnel, giving us just over thirteen thousand countrywide that were affected.”
Melvin Hulse, Minister Responsible for NEMO
“Second phase we are aware and we have listened to Ramon talk about the weather. We have now kicked into place because this caught us but we are also very proactive people. so we’re kicked into place to be ready because there will be flooding in Toledo, there will be flooding in Belize Rural in the next couple of days and there will be flooding up north. So the next step we move to is to get things into place, organise, beg Rana to beg people to donate more food and stuff like that.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Initially, we are hoping to trigger some funds that will assist in the building of replacement homes for the people especially in the valley community, Hope Creek, Sittee and in Gales Point and Mullins River.”
This afternoon, UNICEF and government personnel were out conducting an assessment of the damage. According to the PM, he already has a preliminary report and will be releasing the statistics tomorrow.
