Ambassador Prince makes a case for disaster relief

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States La Celia Prince was joined by her counterparts from St Lucia and Dominica at a recent joint press conference in Washington DC to bring attention to their countries’ plight in the aftermath of what is being called the Christmas Disaster’.{{more}}

Over a period of four hours from the evening of December 24, 2013 to the wee hours of the morning of December 25, 2013, the three islands were impacted by a low-level, high-impact trough system that for the most part went undetected until it made landfall.

St Vincent and the Grenadines which was hardest hit, recorded 11.7 inches of rainfall at one meteorological station in Rabacca in the Northeast of the island.

The sudden torrential rains caused rivers to widen and overflow their banks and in some cases, redefined the floodplain altogether as river defences, bridges, homes, farms and businesses were swept away and destroyed. Numerous landslides also occurred causing severe damage to the road networks, loss of agricultural crops and arable land and most tragically, the loss of life in the affected areas.

The human toll was summed up by Ambassador Prince when she noted that, “Ours is a small population of 110,000 persons and with more than 13,000 people directly affected by the storm, that is14% of our population that is still reeling from the impact.”

The media conference, organized by the Embassy of St Vincent and the Grenadines, also featured diplomatic representatives from other Caribbean countries and OAS Member States who were on hand to lend their support and solidarity.

According to Ambassador Prince, “the news of our plight got lost in the merriment and bustle of the holiday season. But there are people still in dire need and my country will be on a very long road to recovery.”

The OAS Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General were also on hand and made an initial financial contribution of US $20,000 to each of the affected countries.

Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States expressed solidarity with the affected member states and committed the OAS to assist with natural disaster mitigation and prevention projects through its sustainable development programmes. He expressed the belief that “efforts to mobilize financial, material and technical assistance should continue beyond the emergency period. Often, the long term social and economic impact does not receive the required attention.”

The disaster left nine confirmed dead in St Vincent and the Grenadines, including a two-year old girl, and three others still missing, with material damage to agricultural crops, livestock, private property and public infrastructure including hospitals, police stations, bridges and roads – of up to US $100million.

Ambassador Prince and the Ambassadors of St Lucia and Dominica used the opportunity to thank the OAS, the institutions of the Inter-American system, the United States government, the private sector, as well as the international community for the assistance rendered and appealed for continued support during the recovery period.