The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

NEARLY eight months after the devastating passage of Hurricane Joaquin, Long Island is still struggling to recover despite the best efforts by those on the ground.

Island Administrator Terrece Bootle-Bethel gave The Tribune an update last week on the state of the island, characterising efforts there as “endless, but enduring”.

She said as residents continue to repair their homes and lives in the wake of the category four storm that pounded the southern islands on October 1 and 2 last year, there is apprehension and fear that the island may never fully recover.

According to her, the steady exodus of residents from many of the island’s southern settlements has raised questions about the economic viability of the island.

The Tribune understands that a large percentage of the families residing on southern Long Island have relocated to other areas or moved away all together due to the inability to secure financing to repair their homes.

Mrs Bootle-Bethel said Long Island, faced with a stagnant economy prior to Joaquin, had a number of families that depended on fishing and farming ventures to survive month-to-month. She noted that with the passage of the storm, many of those families in addition to losing their homes lost the financial means to properly recover.

“It is dire in many cases throughout, don’t get me wrong here, but the biggest concern is in the south. Families in that section are struggling and many of those families have left the island because it has proven far too difficult to repair and rebuild,” she said.

“Families from all around the island have left but most are leaving from the south. A lot of families don’t have the capacity to recover and we have seen that. There are a number of homes that are vacant (in the south) where residents couldn’t afford to make the repairs, or only afford to fix some things. If they aren’t slated for a home, then it is up to them to find the supplies needed to start over. The main point of repairs focused on roofs. However, we had many homes that had to be fully gutted due to the severity of flood damage.”

In late October, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said that one in every 10 homes it had assessed was “completely destroyed”. A damage assessment report compiled for NEMA at that time showed that 35 of the 317 homes assessed in Long Island were left uninhabitable, while a total of 117 were classified as “substantially damaged” by Joaquin. The report indicated that 159 of the 317 homes assessed to that point received minor damage as a result of the storm.

Last week FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis urged the government to extend the exigency order implemented for residents in the southern Bahamas on the premise that many were still struggling. NEMA has since revealed that the order was being extended for residents on a case-by-case basis.

When asked about this, Mrs Bootle-Bethel insisted that it was one of the most important ways the government could encourage the redevelopment of Long Island. She said that residents needed additional time to accumulate the funds needed to replace appliances, vehicles and furniture.

“Funding wasn’t, and in many cases to date still hasn’t been readily available. So an extension would aid tremendously,” she said. “Persons had their forms documented and signed; they just didn’t have the financial resources to get what they needed when the order was first announced.”

She added: “In this process NEMA has been relatively hands on. In terms of assessment and repair teams, we still have one repair team going strongly. Supplies are at this time still trickling into the island from NEMA for those requests being made, for homes under construction, in addition to the homes that are being considered. There were some initial delays in terms of shipping, which is normal for dealing with inter-island shipping, so as supplies continue to come in we are trying our best to get those supplies into the hands of those persons that need them or need to put them to use.”

On the ground, NEMA is working to construct 12 homes. There are plans for more in the coming months; however the specifics of those arrangements are unknown.

Private sector efforts are also visible on the island. In fact, a large percentage of the homes and private businesses that are undergoing minor to mid-level repairs are being done through private sector funding.

Efforts are also underway to repair a number of government buildings.

The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be one of the most active seasons in recent years. The forecast calls for a total of 14 named storms, eight hurricanes and at least three major (category three or higher) storms.

Mrs Bootle-Bethel said discussion of hurricane preparedness remains a “horrifying, extremely draining topic.” She said she hopes that Long Island is spared this year, stressing that the island in its present state could not weather another storm.

“We have spoken about drainage, there is still a major need for storm drains in very key areas. We have spoken about training for persons on our disaster response teams. Last year, we had persons that were placed in positions where they couldn’t respond because it came down to saving themselves and responding to the persons that they were tasked to aid,” she said.

“There needs to be a national team on standby that is ready and able to move in and assist when the time calls for it. My team was rendered basically helpless. They lost everything, they too were devastated, and so it was like the wounded helping the wounded. That is one of the major points I have wanted to get across in my writing and in my speaking opportunities is that need for a national response team that can come in and co-ordinate in a drop of a hat because during (Joaquin) the local team found themselves in need. It was extremely difficult to get mobilised and assist the way we needed to.”

Mrs Bootle-Bethel has presented the government and NEMA with a SWAT analysis that details issues that need to be re-examined immediately, as well as calls for a reformatted approach to the way the government views disaster preparedness teams within Family Island communities.