The Ralph Gonsalves administration today appealed for regional and international assistance to rebuild the country after Hurricane Tomas left damages which are expected to amount to several million dollars.
“I am appealing for regional and international assistance. I will myself make the formal appeals to our friends, our developmental partners,” Gonsalves said on local radio.
“Some of them have missions here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and we have friend in the region too. We need some quick emergency assistance to get ourselves back on our feet in the shortest possible time.”
Gonsalves used the medium to summon his Cabinet members to a meeting on Monday, Nov. 1, at 8 a.m.
“We are looking at millions and millions of dollars in damage,” Gonsalves said, adding that it might cost an average of EC$30,000 (US$11,173) to repair each of the 300 houses severely damaged by the storm.
“You take agriculture: all the bananas are flat, the plantains, — many fruit trees are down. We have to get money for the reconstruction of the agriculture, the rehabilitation of the agriculture. But in the meantime, you have to find money for income support for the families while we are replanting,” Gonsalves said.
There have been no confirmed reports of loss of life but two person sustained severe injuries while repairing a roof during the passage of the storm which battered St. Vincent and St. Lucia on Saturday.
Some 1000 people were in emergency centres, including 300 in Sandy Bay on the north-eastern coast, and one ship had run aground in the Brighton area, also on the east coast.
