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Dennery Residents & Banana Farmers to Benefit from Package of Assistance Following Storm Lilli


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Contact: John Emmanuel

Wednesday, September 25, 2002 - Short term and long term measures have begun to be put in place to provide relief to residents of the East-coast village of Dennery who suffered damage due the passage of Tropical Storm Lilli. That announcement came from Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony who toured the village on Tuesday, one day after the passage of the weather system that threatened the Windward Islands.

Dr. Anthony, who assessed the situation from the stand point of the various disaster co-ordinators and held informal talks with scores of residents, said Tuesday that firm decisions of the future of Dennery will have to be taken sooner rather than later. He explained to members of the media who accompanied him on the tour that there was no question concerning some re-development of the waterfront in Dennery.

Said Prime Minister Anthony, “It means therefore that we will have to get expert advice as quickly as possible on a number of issues. Firstly, whether at this stage it is necessary to construct a major sea wall along the Dennery Waterfront and secondly whether it is necessary to remove all the houses lining the Waterfront. Those decisions will need to be made very quickly, but it will require expertise and let me say here that this administration will move quickly to get that expert advice as to how we should approach this dicey situation.”

Dr. Anthony praised the efforts of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) which went into high gear on word of the approaching storm. The proactive response of the various committees he noted played a large role in returning the community to normalcy in rapid time.

“The Government machinery worked well,” he said. “NEMO worked very well and I want to express my thanks to all the disaster preparedness committees island-wide. They held meetings the night before the storm arrived and early in the morning and overall they moved and mobilized very quickly. Here in Dennery we saw an outstanding example of this, there was already clean-up activities taking place when we arrived. It became obvious that there are some areas in which they will need assistance from Central Government and we will step in to provide that assistance. The point is they pulled their weight and worked together devoting their time to their community.”

The island’s beleaguered banana industry appeared hardest hit with word from Agriculture Minister Senator Calixte George of reports of between 40 – 80 % damage in key areas like Cul-De-Sac, Roseau and Mabouya Valley. Minister George spoke of the need for the setting up of an insurance scheme to benefit farmers in times of disasters. He also made mention of a possible package of assistance to farmers coming from the EU. “Quite luckily for us and the farmer I happened to be travelling with some personnel from the European Union. I am showing them the extent of the damage first hand and they seem sympathetic to what has happened. I am also holding talks with them in terms of getting assistance for farmer for provisional labour cost in relation to re-cultivating their fields.”

The latest damage caused to the industry comes at a time when farmers and the country were beginning to see the first signs of a possible recovery in the banana industry, after it recorded the worst draught in 40 years in 2001, which resulted in dramatic shortfalls in production. Agricultural officials recently returned to the island after a major fact-finding activity in the UK.

 


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