KINGSTOWN – One month after a low-level trough caused death and widespread destruction in St Vincent and the Grenadines, people who lost appliances and other household items have begun receiving free replacement, compliments telecommunications provider, Digicel.
The distribution began in Buccament Bay on Friday, exactly one month after the Christmas holiday storm triggered floods and landslides across the country, claiming nine lives, left three persons missing, and EC$330 million in damages.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves had announced that a businessperson would donate a fridge, a stove and a mattress to each person who lost those items in the floods.
But he did not identify the donor initially, telling the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in Buccament Bay on Friday that it was Denis O’Brien, chairman and principal shareholder of Irish-based telecommunication provider, Digicel.
“I didn’t want to reveal his name earlier, for the simple reason that it was not opportune. It was not the appropriate time,” Gonsalves told CMC, adding that he knew that when the first set of mattresses, fridges, and stoves were donated that the representative of Digicel would be present.
Digicel local manager Sean Latty, and Marketing Manager, Juno De Roche, were on hand in Buccament Bay, where 62 people received the relief material.
De Roche, did not disclose the value of the items distributed.
“That seems to be the popular question of the day, but we are not disclosing how much we are spending, because to us, our customers are important,” De Roche told CMC.
“The most important thing is getting persons back to a normal state of living, helping out wholly this initiative that the Government has brought on,” she said.
Gonsalves said his government had intended to give the appliances and other material to those affected by the weather system and that he had persuaded Digicel to purchase the items from local suppliers.
Gonsalves said there were several reasons for this, including the fact that the money would be spent locally and that suppliers would have already been familiar with the appliances used by local consumers.
“I am looking at some other contributors in relation to furniture and pot and pans and the like,” he further said. (CMC)