As the Prime Minister said at the opening of his press conference, the responsibility for distributing disaster relief supplies has been given to NEMO. NEMO Minister Melvin Hulse said it’s a tasking they take very seriously and gave a commitment to all those affected by floods.

Hon. Melvin Hulse, NEMO Minister
“We got flood guys, trust me water deh out there but we are able to rescue everybody, we are able to assist everybody, and NEMO is still here to be able to assist with the food and the water and the clothing. I know a lot of people, poor people are very concerned about their homes. These are not houses, these are homes with their personal things inside. We will be there when the waters recede enough for us to go in and look and assess and we will assist. That is not an idle promise, that is a reality.”

But one set of people who won’t be seeing NEMO are those in the Albion islands. That comprises the three villages of San Roman, Santa Cruz and San Antonio that are surrounded by two branches of Hondo River. They’ve been experiences flooding for two weeks but NEMO Minister Hulse says they are not part of a disaster response.

Hon. Melvin Hulse,
“I need to bring to the attention that the people in San Roman and I take this opportunity in the Albion Islands because even though they been experiencing flood for two weeks, as a threat to human life and to home and property, they’ve not been experiencing that. They’re experiencing hardship in the manner because their one hundred percent livelihood is dependent on cutting cane for a living. The cane fields are flooded so they have no jobs. So what has been activated last night was the Ministry of Human Development so they could get social assistance until conditions improve so I needed to say that because they will be calling on help and NEMO just can’t run and deliver food and water and clothing to people who are not experiencing natural disaster but economic hardship.”

Needless to say, there was no school in the Albion villages today –and just so for a number of other schools across the country that are affected by flood waters. But most schools are open – however Education Minister Patrick Faber today warned parents and teachers that they should be aware of the local situation before they make a decision to go to school.

Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“While we have made these pronouncements on cancellation of classes or areas where classes will happen, that our first priority is always safety and so where parents or teachers feel that the lives of students or teachers are endangered in terms of getting to and from school in those areas where school is on, we ask you to use your own judgement because we wouldn’t wish to take responsibility for that so once you feel your life is in danger and your child’s life is in danger by going to school, please take the necessary precautions.”