The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE revelation that the Davis administration will not launch a formal inquiry into Hurricane Dorian-related deaths reopened the wounds Sitha Silien has suffered since the category five storm swept through Abaco, taking her mother, brother, and cousin.

She and other Abaco residents yesterday lamented what they see as a minimal effort by the state to help them get closure and answers to critical questions.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said on Tuesday that investigations into Dorian-related deaths are ongoing “administratively” to inform future actions. He said his administration decided against a formal inquiry despite his suggestion in opposition for an independent investigation either by external police or a commission of inquiry into the fate of those still missing in Abaco and Grand Bahama after the hurricane.

Yesterday, the Office of the Prime Minister’s communications officials did not respond to The Tribune’s requests for details on the administrative efforts to which Mr Davis referred.

Ms Silien, who lived in the Mudd shanty town during Dorian in 2019, said her mother died when a piece of plywood struck her as the storm intensified. She said her brother was killed when the roof of a church collapsed on him, and her cousin has been missing since the storm.

She said she had endured a five-year battle to obtain death certificates for her loved ones. She said the Coroner’s Court has yet to declare them dead, and now the lack of a formal inquiry has added to her grief.

“I’m being cut again,” she cried out. “It’s not fair.”

“They keep telling me to wait, and I’m right here waiting. If the government knew they couldn’t bury my people, I asked to bury them myself, but they refused to release the bodies to me.”

Roscoe Thompson, chairman of the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township, criticised government’s decision not to open a formal inquiry.

“People have a right to know the death toll from Dorian,” he said. “Why wouldn’t they hold a formal inquiry? Are they satisfied with the numbers?”

While he acknowledged it would be difficult to determine the exact number of people –– especially undocumented immigrants –– who died in the storm, Mr Thompson estimated The Mudd shanty town housed between 6,000 and 8,000 people, only half of whom evacuated in time. He believes over 1,000 people died during Dorian and spoke of personally seeing 17 dead bodies in the storm’s aftermath.

Octervil Baptise, president of the Haitian Pastors Association in Abaco, also believes more Haitians and Bahamians died in the Mudd than has been reported. He said he often sees grieving families expressing their frustrations on social media because they still don’t have the closure they need.

Faron Newbold, chief councillor for Central Abaco’s district council, said some grieving families have struggled to claim life insurance benefits after relatives died in Dorian. Insurance companies often require proof of death, but in cases like Dorian, where people remain unaccounted for, families may face challenges obtaining death certificates to process claims.

In June 2020, then National Security Minister Marvin Dames reported 279 people were missing after Dorian, while then Assistant Commissioner of Police Solomon Cash said only 33 remained unaccounted for.

After recovering the remains of three unidentified bodies in February 2020, the now-defunct National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported a death toll of 74.