The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis said despite being a difficult subject, the government needs to consider the “resettlement” of some Family Islands as the country is now faced with a massive rebuilding effort following Hurricane Joaquin.

Mr Davis, who is also the minister of works and urban development, said the realities that prompted the development plans of most Family Islands no longer exist. His comments came at the tail end of the government’s assessment tour on Tuesday of some of the southern islands left devastated by the category four storm late last week.

He noted that the government’s approach to infrastructure on those islands have to be reconsidered due to the high likelihood of natural disasters in the future.

“I think the time has come for us to start the conversations about resettlement of some of these Family Islands to make it more affordable for our government to provide (the basic infrastructure)...instead of having to duplicate so very often.”

“Just flying over the settlements before I landed so many things were running through my mind,” Mr Davis said on Tuesday.

“(I asked myself), what would have informed communities to be created in manner in which they have?”

According Mr Davis, the distance between many of the settlements affected by Hurricane Joaquin has left the government with the task of running miles of infrastructure from one settlement to the next, to best serve, in most instances less than 100 residents.

Mr Davis used the example of Salina Point and Lovely Bay in Acklins, noting that the island’s two most populated settlements are roughly 56 miles apart.

Between those areas there are four to five scattered settlements with no more than 100 people living in each.

He said: “Yet we still have the obligation as a government to provide them with all the services that the people in New Providence have. So I think the time has come for the conversation to at least start to talk about resettlement. I was reminded this morning (Tuesday) that following the (Great Nassau Hurricanes)…. most of the settlements in Rum Cay were abandoned and everyone just settled into one settlement.”

Mr Davis represents the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador constituency. The two latter islands were severely affected by Joaquin’s passage.

Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Island were also devastated by the tropical cyclone, which destroyed homes and buildings, knocked out walls with dangerous storm surges and uprooted trees and power lines.

Nearly 100 residents have been evacuated from Crooked Island since Monday because their homes are unlivable.

In Acklins, during the government’s assessment tour Snug Corner resident Lionel Rolle pleaded with government officials to help residents with their repairs quickly. He said that any form of delay in relief supplies would force most residents to move to more developed islands around the country and never return.

Crooked Island and Acklins, along with Mayaguana, Inagua and Long Cay combine to form the MICAL constituency.

That constituency had a total of 1,325 registered voters; less than half that of the 4,342 voters registered in Southern Shores, Nassau’s least populated constituency.

Mr Davis added that it would be easier for the government to create infrastructure in areas where the population was situated in closer proximity.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Perry Christie signed exigency orders to allow residents in storm-affected islands to import building supplies duty-free. Those orders were put in place to fast track rebuilding efforts in those islands devastated by the storm.

Mr Christie has said it will cost tens of millions of dollars to rebuild after the storm.