(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The Government and people of Montserrat will receive additional assistance from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) following a visit to the island by Prime Ministers the Hon. Dr. Keith Mitchell of Grenada and the Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas of St Kitts/Nevis.
The visit by the two leaders was initiated by the Chairman of CARICOM the Hon. Percival Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the XVIII Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community which ended in Montego Bay, Jamaica on July 4.
The Conference had received a report on the situation in Montserrat with respect to the continuing instability of the Langs Soufriere volcano which claimed 10 lives with 13 people still missing following an eruption on June 25.
Following the report presented by the island’s Minister of Education and Health, the Hon. Adelina Tuitt, the Conference agreed that Dr. Mitchell, a member of the Bureau of Heads of Government and a representative of the CARICOM Secretariat would visit the island this week.
Dr Douglas, Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), volunteered to be part of the Mission and he was accompanied by the Hon. Cedric Liburd, St Kitts/Nevis Minister of Communications, Works, Public Utilities and Posts. Mr. Orlando Marville, Assistant Secretary General, Foreign and Community Relations represented the Secretariat. Two representatives of the OECS, Ms Deidre Jessamy and Mr. Paul Payne along with Mr. Jeremy Collymore of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Relief Agency (CDERA) accompanied the leaders.
During the visit, Prime Minister Mitchell announced that Grenada was offering $50,000 (US) in immediate assistance while Prime Minister Douglas promised equipment for housing structures and to actively pursue the dispatch of nurses.
Prime Minister Mitchell was visibly moved by the situation in one of the three shelters that the team visited, which housed geriatric citizens. He commented that media reports gave no idea of the reality of the situation on the island and he would urge his colleagues and the Community as a whole to speed up the process of assistance to Montserrat.
The team met Chief Minister Bertram Osborne and members of his cabinet, Governor Frank Savage and members of the private sector during their one-day stay on Friday, which also saw them, fly over the devastated areas and visit possible sites for relocation of displaced citizens.
