UWI Open Campus statement on Christmas disaster

The Management, staff and students of the University of the West Indies Open Campus extend deep condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the floods and landslides of December 24-25, 2013. We empathise with all our brothers and sisters who have lost their homes, their possessions, and in some cases, their means of livelihood in this disaster.{{more}}

Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Open Campus, Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald, upon hearing of the disasters in Dominica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, immediately launched a region wide campaign involving all country sites and departments of the Open Campus, to bring relief to the affected islands. Bank accounts have also been established for the receipt of monetary donations.

The first shipment arrived from the Open Campus, Barbados, via the Barbados Coast guard on Sunday, December 29, with a second shipment on the 31st. Since then, the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has received supplies from the Open Campus Trinidad and Tobago, kindly transported via the Trinidad Army, on December 31. Supplies were also delivered to the Trinidad Red Cross for shipment to the St Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross. Shipments of food, water and other supplies are expected from Open Campus country sites in the ensuing weeks and months.