And what is NEMO’s response to all this criticism? Today the Minister responded to those complaints about an ineffective response. But first, an overview: the Red Cross estimates that Hurricane Dean left 1,800 families either homeless, without basic necessities such as food and water, or out of jobs. And today, after two days of aerial and ground assessments, NEMO Minister Godfrey Smith says the storm’s financial toll is in the millions. How many million? Well, Smith says it may be as much as $50 million.
Hon. Godfrey Smith, Minister of NEMO
“Its approximately fifty million Belizean dollars. Of that I can say about $20 million is for housing and the rest is related to agriculture and
other infrastructural loss as well as loss of future income. If papaya trees go down, it takes money to put it back up as well as in the meantime the foreign exchange you would have earned in the time it takes to get it back is also lost so that has to be calculated in the figure as well.”
But as you heard earlier, Hurricane Dean victims are complaining that they aren’t getting basic necessities such as zinc sheets and basic provisions. Smith says that yes, everyone needs help but it will take time.
Hon. Godfrey Smith,
“This is a disaster and that is why the areas have been called disaster areas. Everybody can’t be attended to at the same time, people want their needs addressed immediately. Not all of them can be reached immediately but
I am fairly confident that needs will be addressed such as getting food to them, getting water to them, trying to ensure they have generators in place so that illnesses don’t set in. As we speak some 20 generators should be on their way or very shortly on their way to the disaster areas. One by one we are going down the checklist of things to do but as usual in a situation like this, things tend to be chaotic; everybody calling you, everybody wants everything addressed immediately. We have to stay calm and focused and deal with things very logically, village by village. That is what we hope.”
Keith Swift,
Sir are we facing a crisis in the north because we have people who have lost everything; they have no jobs, they’ve lost their homes, and they don’t even have anything to eat?
Hon. Godfrey Smith,
“You raise an important point. While we in Belize City and other places are probably totally back to normal, a crisis is a situation where I have lost my home and I don’t know where another home will come from. So I would have to admit that yes, for many families it is a crisis but I think it is a situation that can be dealt with. It may take a little time, as it does in any country where a disaster has hit but I don’t think it will get out of control.”
And where will the $50 million come from? Well Smith says that Prime Minister Said Musa is currently in Honduras at a heads of government of Central America meeting where he is lobbying for financial assistance. We are informed that the President of Taiwan is attending, and the PM is asking for a disaster relief package. He left this morning and was scheduled to return this evening.
On a related note, 7NEWS is informed that hurricane recovery veteran, James Jan-Mohammed, who’s been in charge of San Pedro’s disaster response for years, has been assigned to take over the relief and recovery operation in the Corozal District disaster area starting tomorrow.
