Damage assessment to be done tomorrow

Minister of Home Affairs, Wilfred Abrahams says an intensive damage assessment and needs analysis will be conducted locally tomorrow.

He said this will be led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs along with the Ministry of Home Affairs.  Speaking during a recent press conference, he also provided an update on the clean-up activity that has been occurring locally following the ashfall from the La Soufriere volcano.

“The ashfall has triggered a post-event damage assessment and needs analysis and this is being led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs along with the Ministry of Home Affairs. This will provide both a qualitative and financial costing of the impact of the hazard, identifying the detail or resource needs and allow us to be very specific in our request for assistance to deal with our post event recovery.

“This is an intensive rapid assessment for which we have already started gathering critical information. It covers agriculture, infrastructure, technology, utilities and every sector that we expect to be affected by the ashfall.”

He said the taskforce conducting the assessment draws on both public and private sector experts, noting that the UN system is “providing technical expertise so the team can hit the ground running on Monday”.

The Home Affairs Minister also spoke about an exemption which has been granted for today.

He stated that notwithstanding Emergency Management (COVID-19) (Curfew) (No.8) Directive, 2021 which runs from April 12 to April 26, “The Attorney General has granted an exemption for all businesses, all enterprises and all persons to perform clean-up activities on Sunday, April 18, 2021 whether residential or otherwise.