Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
CARBY
WITH THE 2006 hurricane season five months away, Land and Environment Minister, Dean Peart, has disclosed that funds have not yet been allocated to the disaster fund.
He, however, said a letter is being drafted to be sent to the relevant authorities such as the National Works Agency and the parish councils. The process, he said, in case of a disaster, is to write to the Ministry of Finance requesting the funds needed for disaster relief.
Dr. Barbara Carby, director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), told The Gleaner that with the upcoming budget, she hopes that allocations will be made to the disaster fund. "We will definitely ask for it," she said.
In 2005, Dr. Carby revealed that since the inception of the fund in 1988 after Hurricane Gilbert, only once had the Government deposited money in the fund that was seeded with $4 million. That amount has since grown to $22 million by March 2004. In response to her disclosure then, Minister Peart had stated that the Government could not afford to contribute to the fund.
