Manning: Nobody should live like this

PRIME Minister Patrick Manning after surveying the damage to several houses in the wake of a freak storm at Fyzabad, said yesterday that the housing policy needed to be modified. After witnessing first-hand the destruction of the storm which wreaked havoc on the homes of some 50 residents, PM Manning noted that a significant factor of the destruction left in the storm’s aftermath was the poor conditions under which the residents were living. As the PM met with 16-year-old Crystal Tom holding her one-year-old baby and her four younger siblings sitting outside their one-room shack on pieces of galvanise at John Jules Trace, he turned to Social Development Minister Anthony Roberts and said, “Nobody should be living like this in 2005.”

Also at John Jules Trace, the Prime Minister met Alicia Dindial who is almost nine months pregnant but now has to sleep under an avocado tree. PM Manning walked alongside Community Development and Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams; Roberts; Chairman of the Self-Help Corporation Krishna Ramkumar; Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma and Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Seebaran Santokie. They spoke with villagers and looked on in dismay at the damage caused by unusually heavy rainfall and strong winds that rocked parts of Fyzabad last Wednesday evening. When the storm ended, homes were left roofless, wooden and galvanise shacks were ripped open, mattresses were water-soaked and trees had toppled.

Yesterday for almost two hours the Government team toured the affected areas at Seelal Trace, John Jules Trace, Gowers Well Road, Lum Tack Hill and a trace off Guapo Hill Main Road and promised relief to the victims. After the tour PM Manning told the media that Government had already moved to render assistance to the affected residents. He said, “The damage is fairly comprehensive. We found out that the agencies have already made contact with the people and we are now taking steps to see what materials will be needed to assist residents and to make it available to them so they can take steps to repair their houses.

“Fyzabad MP Sharma said the overnight destruction of the villagers’ homes showed that there was need for “a serious wake-up call” by the Government to deal with victims of natural disasters. Ramkumar told Sunday Newsday that the residents were required to fill out forms from the Selp-Help Corporation and within the next few days the affected residents would receive a $10,000 material grant to begin reconstruction and repair of their homes. He added that the agency was seeking to purchase at least 25 large tarpaulins in preparation for another disaster.