As we approach the first month after the disaster, the roads are unblocked with the exception of Boetica and Petite Savanne which face major challenges, crystal clear water is again running down our rivers into the sea, the ravines and water courses are silent, the authorities should have had sufficient time to determine the extent of damage the country suffered.
Within a few days of the disaster the Prime Minister gave a rough estimate of over $600-million worth of infrastructural damage and subsequently a billion dollar estimate was revealed. One was not clear as to whether the figures were based on the cost of replacement of the damaged facilities or whether it was the market value, in which case there would be a significant difference. To explain that point, one can build a structure at a cost of $200.00 but after it is completed that structure can be valued on the market for $250.00. An insurance company would not be interested in the market value because their concern would be to return the property to its present condition prior to the disaster.
The damage suffered from the torrential rains was primarily to the road infrastructure which includes the bridges and collapsed sections of various roads. Additionally there was significant damage of residential buildings in some villages namely, a section of Bath Estate, Checkhall, Coulibistrie, Colihaut, Pichline, Dubique, Petite Savanne, Bagatelle, Fond St. Jean, DuBlanc and a few others of lesser significance. It must be noted that the situation in Boetica and Delices is as a result of a collapsed bridge over a 200 feet gorge which has resulted in the lack of access to these communities.
The private sector losses have not been given much attention though it is known that the Jungle Bay Resort has been decimated and Sam Raphael has indicated his intention to abandon the location. The loss of Jungle Bay is catastrophic to the Dominican economy, at a time when the development had just started to stamp its mark as one of the best eco-tourism resorts in the world. Other private sector losses of significance are the Essential Oils Cooperative in Petite Savanne, Colgate Palmolive at Belfast and Macoucherie Estate. With the exception of DHTA (Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association) which came up with a figure of close to EC$40 million, the rest of the private sector has been mute on the cost of their losses. The manufacturing sector appears to have suffered a similar loss to that of DHTA.
Another aspect of the loss suffered is the number of damaged facilities that were insured. It would be informative to know the number of residential and other buildings that qualify for insurance compensation. With this information consideration should be given to the level of assistance the owners of uninsured properties would require.
The international community suffers from disaster fatigue, the European Union is burdened with one of its biggest refugee problems since the second World War and the Boat People from Vietnam. The United States is confronted with wild fires in California and flooding in other states as well as having to deal with ISIS in a presidential election season. Since Erika’s torrential rain, Japan has flooded, Chile experienced an 8.3 earthquake and other countries have experienced other disasters that we were too busy to give any attention to. So as time passes the images of disaster in Dominica, which briefly caught the attention of the international news media, are quickly being archived and we are left on our own to rebuild our little rock.
The days when international funding agencies and governments would dish out millions of dollars at the request of suffering third world countries, for disaster relief, are over. After Hurricane David in 1979, countries all over the world voluntarily pledged support to Dominica and Bernard Wiltshire and Rosie Douglas were single-handedly able to raise $25 million from the Non-Aligned movement.
Today most of the pledges from governments are made in kind, in the form of material and technical assistance or financial contributions are made to the Red Cross. By the way, does the Dominica Red Cross issue audited financial reports to the public? If they haven’t over the years because there activities have been low key, this time around the Dominican public should demand a comprehensive audited report from the Dominica Red Cross to account for all the monetary and material contributions that they have received on the behalf of the Dominican people.
The reluctance of the international community in assisting third world countries with financial assistance is also based on their experience with governments using disaster situations to perpetuate political power by exaggerating the extent of their loss and through blatant corruption where they use political cronies to distribute relief supplies giving the impression that the assistance came from the political party in power. Another reason for the lack of support from the international community is the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of the affected governments. Because the governments find themselves operating in a crisis situation, they are of the impression that the international community should waive all their established procedures and protocols to facilitate the requesting governments. This may have been the situation in 1979 and maybe up to 2000, but definitely not in 2015.
The appointment of Baroness Scotland as the international fund raiser may have been a good idea, but to expect the Baroness to successfully raise funds with a hat in hand without a well-prepared recovery plan and verifiable information, is really underestimating or misunderstanding how today’s international community operates when it comes to dishing out money. The fact that the Baroness is on island and in her first press briefing she could only make mention of the $300,000.00 (pounds or dollars?) contribution from the British government says a lot. If the Baroness had attracted a bigger fish, in the same way that she made mention of the U.K. contribution, it is assumed that she would have made the announcement, except if she was seeking the green light from her boss to make the revelation.
It is important to note that information disseminated about assistance given to Dominica as a result of the disaster has not come from the Government of Dominica but from the contributing governments and agencies. The World Bank was quick to announce that the assistance to Dominica will be the diversion of funds from the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction project that was already approved, the Chinese announced their US$300,000.00 and all the Caricom countries made their own announcements that were, in some cases, confirmed by the government. Very significant in the contributions made to Dominica is the US$100,000.00 from the Government of Taiwan, through the OECS. Has this one been acknowledged?
To raise one billion dollars just to reconstruct what existed and at the same time finding the resources to continue the development of the island is an unenviable task which requires a high level of competence, maturity, honesty, transparency, accountability and all the other accolades which go with good governance. The Government of Dominica has made pronouncements for all hands to be on deck for the reconstruction process, but the reality on the ground indicates the exclusion of many qualified, experienced and capable Dominicans from the process. Political party cronies and sympathizers are being positioned in places where they lack the relevant competence and there appears to be a subtle attempt to glorify the political leader as the saviour of the nation. The incompetence of a number of ministers is frightening and it proves that some like the Minister for Public Works, Minister for Housing, Minister for Agriculture and the Minister of Trade among others are unfit to hold ministerial positions and they should be downgraded to parliamentary secretary positions or sent back to their constituencies to play their parochial politics.
At this stage in the reconstruction process the nation should know the names of all the victims of the disaster by publishing the confirmed dead and those that are missing. The relatives of the victims need to know to bring closure to their state of mourning. Almost four weeks after a disaster people are still trying to find out about the fate of their love ones and unless it comes from the authorities it will always be speculative
The information on how well the country is doing with the mobilization of financial assistance for reconstruction and what has to be done to generate more assistance has to be made public. There should be no secrecy in the amount of assistance Dominica has received and how much has been pledged. It is the people’s right to know because any assistance received is for and on the behalf of the people of Dominica and any attempt to conceal, manipulate or distort this information will spell more disaster for Dominica, because the donors will not appreciate any such action and may be dissuaded to assist, because those who give only look for the public acknowledgement and appreciation in return.
It appears that within the next few weeks, as the dust dries up, Dominica may be left on its own to gather the pieces and rebuild its own economy. It is therefore recommended that all hands on deck should be given validity of all Dominicans, at home and abroad, be given the opportunity to participate in the reconstruction process and by so doing we will be less dependent of foreign assistance, which does not seem to be coming in the volume and speed required to put Dominica back on its feet.
Be advised you can fool some of the people some times, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. God is watching us after his warning to us to Get with the Programme. Wego see.
Most of what ive read so far “Article & Comments” are positive in theory but not reality. i would have expected constructive criticism with specific ideas to make the situation better. Or even establishment of private groups doing Koudemen like projects. the point raised about stuffs to do in Canada to raise awareness. What is the cost of a bridge replacement. What is the cost of relocating ppl. from Petite Savannne, repairs in Coulibistrie, helping Sebastien in Colihaut. What is the cost per day for all the trucks, heavy equipment etc for the month to date ?
The work thus far can be audited since an estimate was done before start. if done at a lower cost then good rollover or thanks for the potential trickle down effects of Re-construction.
Guys lets look at the positive. There are enough negatives
The assistance given so far is primarily relief.reconstruction assistance is of a different nature.any request for reconstruction assistance, be it grant funding, aid or loan, plans ,quantities and estimates will have to be presented to either governments or funding agencies.once those proposals have been presented ,then the negociations will begin,in order to secure the finance needed for reconstruction.
As a pastor he should be familiar with the following Thou shall not lie.
Sorry wrong place
Very interesting commentary by the Observer… it would be interested to know the monetary value of the assistance given to date since the passage of Tropical Storm Erika in terms of financial contributions and in-kind humanitarian and technical assistance… We need to be able to put of dollar value on all the assistance given to date and list all the sources of assistance from friendly governments, donor agencies/ organizations, civic groups, private sector groups, individuals, educational and other types of institutions and associations etc… This is very important in light of all the rumours and accusations going on in different circles with some people bashing both the Government side and the Opposition Parliamentarians. I believe that these men and women who have put themselves forward to serve the interest of Dominica should be encouraged to collaborate in an effort to help return the state to full normalcy…
I want to congratulate both Prime Minister, Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, the head of Government, and Honourable Lennox Linton, leader of the Parliamentary Opposition for putting their political differences aside and working together in the rebuilding process.
Although I believe that the talents and skills of the Parliamentary Opposition should be utilized a bit more than just playing an advisory role, we must all recognize that in a parliamentary system of government, the Government side will have more say.
Finally, I hope that a well designed strategy for sourcing international assistance for rebuilding this island will be implemented sooner rather than later with inputs from both sides of the political divide, and as well with inputs from the wider public. There is such of pool of resourceful people on the ground whose ideas never seem to be considered in things of this nature. I hope the passage of Tropical Storm Erika will bring us back to reality as a people and a…
,,, a nation
I support these kinds of commentaries as presented by the Observer as it opens up the debate on the rebuilding effort in a positive way…
In as much as many people need to be taken care it is also good that international donation is slow cause the demagogue like Skerrit and his cronies woill no doubt use the funds to effect political tribalization.
According to Skerrit friendly governments gave him and his labor party $32-million dollars to win or nuy election victory. My goodness where is or are the friendly government(s) in this time of great hardship.
Not only that Skerrit did not deny that $32 million was spent on the labor party campaign. After on month the people og Dominica is yet to get an update on the finacial support available for reconstruction and restoration.
But this is what so called religous leaders call best leadership. I am sure god prefer honesty and transparency
Very well written, you capture all the missing and obvious elements on this particular topic of discussion. I am very pleased to read that someone shares similar thoughts to mine. I’m also exceptionally pleased that you did not digress into the political rhetoric of the weak minded who constantly lean their opinions and base their weak ideas on partisan politics. Your assessment was fair balanced and specific to the disaster. Thank you, I hope you can write more articles like this to help those caught in the mire of ignorance understand the bigger picture.
Thank-you for this insightful factual summation of a sorry situation. I am forwarding it to the appropriate Canadian authorities and hoping for a favourable response. There are 2 obstacles to provoking Canada into action – one being the unforgivable complete lack of coverage of the Dominica disaster by Canadian media. I am working on this one. You provide reference to the other, which is the politicization of the relief efforts and appointment of incompetent cronies to tasks beyond their capabilities, thereby resulting in a shocking lack of coordination of relief and rebuilding efforts. Only the powers that be in Dominica can fix this one.
This is brilliant piece which s something very recognisable in the UK where there are scepticism in regards to financial donations. People seem more than willing to send to their own but less so for the greater good of the country. Yet one keeps asking the question, if financial donations are not made directly to the government then how will the roads and bridges be built? There is a well defined difference between funds given and pledges. Often times pledges never arrive after the initial announcements. Therefore it seems sad but practical that we have to somehow trust the Government in power. There are corruption at every level of every Government, in every country so we just hope that the efforts being taken by people and organisations around the world will in the end and the long term will be worth it.