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Several persons from villages on the north-western coast of St Vincent, who were housed at the Bethel High School shelter feel as though they were forced out of their temporary home.
Lloyd Edwards
On Wednesday, SEARCHLIGHT visited the shelter at Campden Park and spoke to evacuees who were packing up to leave for their homes in Petit Bordel and Chateaubelair following a government notice advising evacuees in communities within the orange hazard zone when they were to begin returning to their homes.
Marvlin Delpesche said she feels disrespected in the way they were asked to leave the shelter.
Left to right Conroy Toney, Egbert Thomas and Verrol Ince. Social Share
The government has given the all-clear for persons in the Soufriere orange zone up to Petit Bordel on the Leeward side and Mt Young on the Windward side to return home.
But, this decision is generating mixed feelings among evacuees.
Some have said they cannot wait to return home; while others are saying they feel as if they were being forced out of the emergency shelters to homes that are not yet liveable.
“Give me a shovel and a wheel barrow,” a woman at the Kingstown Preparatory School (KPS) shelter told SEARCHLIGHT said on Thursday.
NBC SVG
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, during the
Eyeing La Soufriere program on NBC Radio yesterday.
The Prime Minister Gonsalves said a pilot program is currently being rolled out by the Ministry of National Mobilization to distribute 300 food vouchers.
Persons hosting evacuees under pressure
EARTHQUAKE Social Share PEOPLE HOSTING evacuees in their home are under the pressure of an increased household, but the state is drawing a line when it comes to paying water and electricity bills.
One of the persons having an added burden on his resources after taking in three evacuees from North Leeward, is a resident of Kingstown commonly known as ‘Earthquake’.
“…It’s just due to the goodness of who I am as a rasta man, and I know these ‘souljas’ there…” ‘Earthquake’ explained at his house last Wednesday.
In illuminating about his current stresses, he revealed, “…you have people around right? That’s more water being used, that’s more light being used, internet always on, you understand? So that’s more bills wey keep rising up based on my standard.”
Two houses destroyed, one flooded in Rockies
Ian Edwards’s family has been displaced by a landslide that destroyed his home. Social Share
Two houses in Rockies were destroyed while a third was flooded out, and another partially damaged, when heavy rains on Thursday triggered landslides and flooding.
Dexter Lewis fled from his home with five persons minutes before it was destroyed by a landslide in Rockies.
Families in that area, as well as other parts of the country, are now displaced as landslide and flooding were reported throughout the mainland, one month ahead of the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.