Delroy ChuckTHE IMMEDIATE task of meeting the needs of victims of Hurricane Ivan has become a most frustrating and unsatisfactory process. Victims are never really satisfied with what has been provided. For those in need, disasters provide ample opportunity for charitable spoils and government handouts. However much is given, there will still be unsatisfied demands. Even those who have not suffered still believe, with much passion, that they too should get benefits, as they too are in need.
The distribution of hurricane relief should not really be steeped in conflicts and disagreements. It should be easy to identify the most urgent needs and allow the genuine victims to benefit. Yet, when disasters strike, and with so much poverty everywhere, it is not easy to distinguish the victims of the disasters from those of abject poverty.
IMPROVE SITUATION
In the inner cities, and many rural districts, the shack that has been destroyed by a fallen tree or the howling wind of Hurricane Ivan looks no different from the dilapidated hovels that shelter so many residents. Equally, the occupiers of these shelters require zinc, lumber, beds, food and other forms of relief to improve their situation. How then can the challenge be met when enough is not available for distribution?
Fortunately, Food For the Poor has done a fantastic job of supplying food to most victims. Through the effort of Food For the Poor, the Office of Disaster Preparedness, political representatives, etc., most affected victims have benefited from food supplies and other basic items. The real challenge comes when the distribution of housing material comes on stream. There simply will not be enough. After Hurricane Gilbert, the complaint of the PNP administration when it took office in 1989 was that too much zinc was imported, but within a matter of months the zinc had been corruptly distributed and simply disappeared. A similar situation must not be allowed to happen. The intended beneficiaries must be carefully scrutinised lest the distribution follows the usual politically partisan path instead of benefiting the genuine hurricane victims.
GOVERNMENT-COMPILED
ASSESSMENTS
At present, the Government has sent out 500 assessors into the field to determine who should benefit. I confess that I do not trust these government-compiled assessments. When I hear civil servants say they do not deal with politicians, yet they deal with Ministers, I wonder about their integrity and judgment. My experience as an Opposition Member of Parlia-ment teaches me that I cannot trust the present administration to deliver government assistance in an open, transparent and equitable basis. And, in spite of the protestations and hopes of the Prime Minister, the political tribalists on both sides will seek to deliver benefits to gain political advantage. Fanatical politicians cannot look beyond partisan advantage and, even in disasters, cannot rise to higher, humane, levels of behaviour to help the truly genuine victims.
REHABILITATION AND
RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS
I think that after the assessment is done, the lists should be circulated within every district, town and constituency before any benefit is distributed. By this process, it will be possible to determine if genuine victims have been excluded and the partisan greedy included. I hope that the Office of National Recon-struction (ONR), headed by Danville Walker, will take over the assessment and the lists immediately, and through community-based organisations sign off on the beneficiaries so that relief can be delivered to the hurricane victims in the shortest possible time.
More importantly, many roads, gullies, river courses and other infrastructures have been badly destroyed by the hurricane and associated flooding and created much dislocation and human inconvenience. Some of these roads and gullies threaten homes and neighbourhoods and must be dealt with as a matter of grave urgency. Here again, the ONR must step in, carefully assess the affected areas, examine the cases that pose a clear and present danger to human lives and properties, and prioritise the rehabilitation and reconstruction process; otherwise, the least affected may well be addressed before the worst affected. I have already documented areas in my constituency that demand urgent attention, where slippages threaten homes and whole communities, and even though I know my constituents' needs are great, I readily accept that there may be worst-case scenarios elsewhere. Still, it is not too late to prepare for the next disaster.
Even while dealing with the present one, we should rebuild and reconstruct to avoid future tragedies. That is why I agree that we have to be tough and let people know they cannot build in flood-prone areas, riverbeds and gully courses. Yet, it may well be time for the country to ask: have we done enough to properly shelter our people? It is the lack of housing and the deepening poverty why our people resort to the shacks and hovels for shelter. From this hurricane relief effort, we must learn how to anticipate and minimise the human tragedies that follow inevitably from similar natural disasters, which would at least be a useful lesson from Hurricane Ivan.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by email at delchuck@hotmail.com.
