Relief supplies shipped to St. Vincent

Forty sailors and seven tonnes of relief supplies should have landed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this morning after the Barbados Defence Force was mobilised to lend assistance to our neighbours yesterday. With the La Soufrière volcano having three explosive eruptions yesterday, the HMBS Rudyard Lewis and the HMBS Leonard C. Banfield were loaded up and set sail after nightfall.

Prior to the eight- to nine-hour voyage, the sailors and supplies were blessed by military chaplains – Capt. Hugh Sandiford and Capt. Roslyn Harper-Johnson – in a short ceremony at the Barbados Coast Guard headquarters, HMBS Pelican. Attorney General, Dale Marshall, was on-hand to inspect the detachment and saluted them for their “distinguished bravery”, noting that it was not an unusual stance for Barbados to render assistance.

Going on to say that the Barbados Defence Force had also sent out delegations to The Bahamas and Dominica last year, Marshall applauded the commitment of the military as well as the civilians who had stood up to lend assistance.

“From the reports in the media, we have seen from our various feeds in social media, I have no doubt that everyone in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is absolutely petrified and it is at times like this that we need to lend a strong arm of support to our brothers and sisters in the region when they need it. As I speak to you, the Prime Minister is engaging in discussion with Prime Minister Gonsalves to see what assistance St. Vincent and the Grenadines

will require of us and Barbados stands ready to go very much over and above that which we are already doing. Already, members of our civic society have begun to pool their efforts to purchase commodities to send down to those in need. And I want to salute those right-thinking Barbadians for those early gestures,” he said.

Adding that Barbados had been fortunate enough over the years to not have faced any major disasters, Marshall stated that it was our duty to help where we can. “The Barbados government is a strong pillar of CARICOM, but these efforts that we begin today are not made purely because of our stance in CARICOM, but also because we too understand the vulnerabilities that small island developing states can encounter. Every year, Minister Abrahams prepares for hurricane season and we’re very fortunate not to have had any major issues, but I know that if we ever did, every Barbadian would like to think that someone, somewhere in the region would reach out and lend us a hand in our time of need,” he said. (MP)