Guyana gives US$200,000 to hurricane-hit St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Dec 01, 2010 News

The Guyana government yesterday announced that it will be giving US$100,000 (G$20M) each to St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to help their rebuilding process, following the destruction caused by Hurricane Tomas one month ago.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, government is hoping that the international community would respond to the calls of its sister member states of CARICOM for much needed assistance to help them to return to a state of normalcy.
In separate messages to his CARICOM colleagues, President Bharrat Jagdeo, the Ministry said, has conveyed the sympathies of Guyana to the government and peoples of St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
At least seven people were confirmed dead in St. Lucia as a result of Hurricane Tomas.
Most of them occurred in the southern town of Soufrière. Prime Minister Stephenson King, who had conducted an aerial survey of Tomas’ damage to his country, said Soufrière was devastated.
Although most of the island has been affected, the south was the worst hit, with the town of Vieux Fort most severely affected, according to Prime Minister King.
The damage caused by Tomas is estimated to be more than US$100 million.
St Lucia, like St Vincent and the Grenadines, which was also badly hit by Tomas, has asked for external assistance.
So far, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has indicated that its preliminary calculations indicate that St Lucia will get a payout of about US$3.2 million, St Vincent and the Grenadines US$1.1 million and Barbados – which was the first to feel Tomas – will get US$8.5 million.
St. Vincent’s NEMO had reported 1,200 homes were damaged or destroyed on the neighbouring multi-island state

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