The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

LONG Island farmers have not been able to collect on relief vouchers issued by the government for losses incurred by Hurricane Joaquin more than a year ago, according to one resident who criticised the stalled pace of relief for the island.

Nor have any of the 12 homes constructed by the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) National Repair and Reconstruction Unit been completed. Bernard Adderley, 61, criticised the government for its “neglect” of the island.

Yesterday, NEMA Director Captain Stephen Russell confirmed that homes in Long Island were at the 97 per cent mark of completion.

Capt Russell said officials were working to get all displaced residents into their homes “before the holidays”.

“We still have a problem in Long Island,” Mr Adderley said. “They issued vouchers to farmers on June 28, 2016 from the Ministry of Agriculture for farmers in Long Island for all the losses that they had from Hurricane Joaquin.

“I went to the packing house (yesterday), to see about the material and the supplies that they issued vouchers for, all the farmers have the voucher, but not one item has been delivered to Long Island.

“When I went there, I asked for the supplies that I signed up for, and there’s no supplies here.”

Mr Adderley acknowledged that he spoke with Agriculture Minister V Alfred Gray, who referred him to his permanent secretary. It was ultimately explained, Mr Adderley said, that the supplies had been held up for some two weeks due to an issue with the Department of Customs in Nassau.

Mr Gray told The Tribune last night that he was aware of the matter, and would respond today.

“We are taxpayers of this country,” Mr Adderley added, “and we want what is rightfully ours. Long Island people are tired of being trampled upon”.

Hurricane Joaquin battered the central and southern Bahamas on October 1 and 2, 2015, destroying homes and buildings and leaving severe flooding in its wake.

Long Island, Crooked Island, Acklins, San Salvador, Rum Cay and Long Cay sustained the most damage from the category 4 storm.

At a briefing in September, Melanie Roach, technical director of the National Repair and Reconstruction Unit, said NEMA had conducted repairs on 383 homes - 88 in Acklins, 37 in Crooked Island, 117 in Long Island, 29 in Rum Cay and 112 in San Salvador.

NEMA, at the time, had 25 repair projects in progress - four in Acklins, nine in Crooked Island, ten in Long Island, one in Rum Cay and one in San Salvador.

Mrs Roach confirmed that 24 homes were still under construction: three in Acklins, five in Crooked Island, 12 in Long Island and four in San Salvador.

“Two of the three homes in Acklins are nearing completion and one is much delayed,” she said in September.

“In Crooked Island, three of the five are nearly completed and two are delayed. In Long Island, the majority of them are about 60 per cent completed and they are awaiting the arrival of additional equipment that are required for completion and the Ministry of Housing is working with the Ministry of Finance to try and get those materials there as early as next week.”

Yesterday, Mr Adderley said the government’s disaster relief agency had also overlooked six Long Islanders who still had no roofs. He pointed out that this oversight was a consequence of the lack of collaboration between relief officials and island representatives.

“NEMA should never have a hand in making decisions with homes,” he said, “it should be persons from Long Island along with the representative to decide the persons desperately in need. Some government people, they getting assistance. With Matthew, the government decided to give a loan with a two per cent interest rate.

He continued: “This is because New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco were impacted. After Joaquin, Long Island didn’t even get a loan. We have to stand up because these poor people, they don’t know where to turn or what to do.”