Residents of the Southern Grenadines who evacuated after the July 1 devastating impact of Hurricane Beryl are being encouraged by their parliamentary representative, Terrance Ollivierre to return and help in the rebuilding.
Ollivierre told a press conference in Kingstown on Wednesday that many of the residents of the constituency who are in shelters in St. Vincent are asking when they will go back home.
“The cleanup process is now going on. … I’m saying to people on the mainland, if you are in shelters, people from the Grenadines, get back home. There is work to be done,” Ollivirre told the media briefing held by the New Democratic Party.
“And you are being paid so you can earn something to help in the rebuilding process. This is necessary for you to do,” Ollivierre said.
Ollivierre said the people who have remained on the islands are “ever more vigilant and ready to work to make sure that these islands return to normalcy as soon as possible.
“We have to try as hard as possible to rebuild these islands and to make sure that the people of the islands, their lives return to normal as possible. So the rebuilding process is paramount.
“The rebuilding process, I would say again, is paramount,” said Ollivierre, who lives in Union Island and has been MP for the Southern Grenadines since March 2001.
He said constituents are asking what is needed and where they can register so that the government can take account of what is needed for the island to get back to normal.
Olliveirre noted the NDP initiatives announced by party president and Opposition Leader, Godwin Friday at the press conference.
The four initiatives include EC$100,000 in bursaries for students affected by the category 4 hurricane.
The NDP has also announced that it will receive donations, for example, through a GoFundMe initiative to raise funds for assisting with supplies and rebuilding of homes and businesses.
“And I’m asking you out there to please support in whatever way you can. Because there are many people who have lost everything, every single thing,” Ollivierre said.
Olliverre was asking constituents to return even as the housing situation on the islands was dire, with the government saying that the hurricane damaged or destroyed 95% of buildings there.
Ollivierre said that like he, who lost 80% of his roof, many residents have at least a room in which they can stay.
“… they can return and as I said, there are other homes … — about eight or so — which have not been so damaged. They have people living there with them,” Ollivrre said.
He said residents of the Grenadines “we learn to share and cooperate with one another.
“And they have shown that from day one, the aftermath of Beryl. We have learned to tough it out and we are toughing it out. And we want to make sure that the island returns to as it was before, in terms of development or even better.”
He said that residents of the island who return from shelters in St. Vincent can live in tents in the same way that representatives of international and regional entities on the island are doing.
“… we can also pitch tents and live there and do our work and secure our homes and make sure things are better for us in the Southern Grenadines,” Ollivierre said.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has also made a similar call for able-bodied men and women who evacuated to return to the islands to help with the relief and recovery.