Much rebuilding taking place in the Southern Grenadines – Minister of Housing

The government has sought to dismiss talk that noting is happening in relation to repairing the damage to structures on Union Island and other parts of the Southern Grenadines, declaring this to be false.

More than 95 per cent of structures in the Southern Grenadines sustained varying levels of damaged or were destroyed by the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024, and the government has vowed to fix all of the homes that were damaged once the homeowners allow it.

Persons have been complaining that the process is too slow, with some even claiming that nothing has been done since July 1, 2024.

On Thursday, January 9, 2025, Minister of Housing, Orando Brewster said in Parliament that while British financier, Ian Wace has spent money to help restoring housing in the Southern Grenadines, the government has also spent money there, so far, amounting to EC$15 million.

Brewster said that while there is talk that nothing is happening, the fact is that about 405 houses have already been repaired. What Brewster said in Parliament was supported in Union Island on Thursday by Coordinator for the recovery effort in the Southern Grenadines, Idelia Ferdinand.

“I think sometimes people say things but they don’t realize all of the dynamics that are at play. We cannot just fix houses unless we do a proper assessment of the state of the house, and we have our assessors, and we are working closely with the teams from physical planning, from housing,” Ferdinand related.

“We have to assess the state of the house to ensure that the house can be repaired, and the integrity of the structure has not been compromised before we do any work because that would be spinning top in mud…”.

Ferdinand also explained that they have to rebuild properly so as to make sure that a strong wind, or other elements during the next hurricane season do not create serious problems.

“So, we have to ensure that the structures can be repaired and not have to be demolished,” she said, while noting that assessors have to ensure that the building codes and standards are being followed.

Brewster said in Parliament on Thursday that the damage has been categorised into various levels, ranging from one to four. Level one and level two are easier to deal with, while levels three and four represent homes that have to be rebuilt or demolished.

He said that addressing the level three and level four structures will begin in mid-January, 2025, and 85 of these homes are scheduled for attention.

The rebuilding process is said to be somewhat hampered by an insufficiency of workers and contractors. This week, residents on Union Island residents have also complained that persons are going to the island under the guise of looking for work, but instead are committing crimes.