Ramdial: $25m flood fund not enough

Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial. FILE PHOTO
Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial. FILE PHOTO

OPPOSITION Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial says the government's $25 million flood relief fund is simply not enough to help the tens of thousands of people directly impacted by major flooding over the weekend.

Ramdial made this known in a press release yesterday where she said Friday’s devastating flood wreaked havoc on the people of East and Central Trinidad. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, she claimed, lost everything such as vehicles, appliances, groceries, clothes and schoolbooks. Some have even lost their homes as poorly built structures have washed away.

Everyone would agree that this is the worst flood in the last 30 years as damage was widespread and many homes were completely submerged and evacuation of thousands was necessary, Ramdial said.

Relief has been very slow in coming from the authorities such as ODPM, Ministry of National Security, Ministry of Works and it has largely been the flood affected communities coming together to rescue themselves with ngos, cbos and volunteers from the wider public.

"The shelters are overcrowded so additional ones were established over the last 24 hours. People have also opened up their homes to assist flood victims with accommodations. Being a flood victim myself, I witnessed the devastations of homes and communities firsthand and it is going to take months if not years for families to rebuild and recover."

Ramdial said that the $25 million was "woefully inadequate" to compensate thousands of flood victims who have lost everything.

The Ministry of Social Welfare still owes flood victims compensation cheques for the years 2016 and 2017 which makes it very unreliable to deal with processing cheques in a timely manner, the MP said.

I would like to suggest to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley that a National Disaster Relief Fund be established to deal with prevention and effects of natural disasters in Trinidad and Tobago, she continued.

"I call on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and his cabinet to increase the Flood Relief Fund to an initial 100 million to be properly managed and distributed by the Ministry of Finance."

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