The Tribune

BEFORE we begin, we must praise the men and women behind the scenes who gave up the comforts of home and moved into newspaper offices and radio stations to keep citizens informed of what was happening during the height of hurricane Matthew.

Much praise is due to our dedicated Tribune and Tribune Radio staff who moved in with their bedrolls to keep the news flowing while the worst storm in about 80 years swirled, howling over The Bahamas. The services of each and every one of them is deeply appreciated, for without them there would have been no information and the radio stations would have remained silent throughout Matthew’s passage.

As it was, KissFM, YFM and ClassicalFM were off the air for about an hour and a half on Sunday evening. However, by Monday morning all of our stations were off for an hour and a half for want of diesel fuel – not because there was a shortage of fuel on the island, but because of the long wait that our staff had in line at the fuel stations. They just could not replenish the tanks fast enough to keep the stations on. Eventually, at 1pm yesterday, we were able to acquire a diesel truck that filled our tanks, both at Radio House and Emmaus Centre. Before 6 o’clock this evening, Emmaus will need a refill.

This will keep both Radio House and Emmaus on air until the next crisis or until government electricity is restored.

But in the meantime, great credit goes to each and every member of staff who has been at their stations throughout this crisis to keep information flowing through The Tribune, its website, tribune242, and the five radio stations at Radio House.

For Nassau, Matthew was the worst storm since the 1929 hurricane. And those who lived in Grand Bahama say it was even worse than Jeanne and Frances, which in September 2004 destroyed Grand Bahama, particularly West End.

“This time,” said a former resident, “I think it is going to be very difficult for Freeport to make a comeback.”

However, what makes it even more difficult is the fact that Nassau —the capital — has been so badly crippled that it will not be able to give its undivided attention to the islands that will need even more attention, because they have less and their damage might even be greater.

At one time, we were puzzled by a conversation between the late Sir Etienne Dupuch and the late Donald d’Albenas when they agreed that it was fortunate that hurricane damage was on one of the islands and that Nassau was spared. It was only later that we realised that if Nassau had been destroyed, there was little hope for the rest of the islands, because Nassau, as the capital, had all of the resources to quickly assist the other islands. In other words, remove the head and the body quickly dies.

Matthew might be the instrument to convince government that an effort should be made to assist each island to be more self sufficient so that they can help themselves until aid arrives.

It was good yesterday to see so many Bahamians out clearing up their properties, trees being removed from across the roads and trying to bring some order to their lives.

Prime Minister Christie said the economic cost of this disaster was such that government is exploring the option of issuing a hurricane recovery and reconstruction bond. This, he said, would provide “an accelerated reconstruction programme, provide assistance to individuals impacted by the hurricane and provide assistance to small medium sized businesses”.

“Let me tell you how serious our challenges are, we estimated after Hurricane Joaquin that the cost was over $100m,” Mr Christie said.

“You can identify or multiply, two times, three times, four times – this cost is going to be very much more than Joaquin. Enormous damage has been inflicted on thousands of Bahamians, who were not so affected in such numbers with Hurricane Joaquin.

He also made it clear that only NEMA-appoved donations will be allowed the benefit of being brought into the country, duty free, VAT free and with no processing fee.

A generous donation to East Nassau Rotary Club from the Rotary Club in the Caymans faced some difficulty when it arrived in Nassau on Friday without the necessary documentation.

Bahamasair aircraft were flown to the Caymans for safety from the approaching hurricane. On their return to Nassau, the Cayman Rotary loaded one of the planes with ten pallets of chain saws, generators, tarps, foodstuff, water and clothing and whatever else they thought fellow Rotarians in Nassau could use in repairing the damage left in the wake of Matthew.

However, without any paper work or pre-clearance on arrival, Customs demanded payment of duty and VAT on all the donated supplies. Prime Minister Christie was in Freeport and depending on weather conditions was expected in Nassau Friday evening, failing that Saturday morning. However, said one Rotarian, it was soon sorted out - only a “tempest in a teapot”. Just a “little speed bump”, said another.

By Sunday, Rotarians were at the airport to unload the plane of the welcome supplies.

“The people at the airport were absolutely fantastic,” said one Rotarian, ”the Customs, baggage handlers, they all assisted us in releasing and helping us in loading our two trucks.”

It is now up to Bahamians to help each other to get their lives back together.

At least Nature is again at peace. After the storm, four little birds settled on a nearby roof top and chirped their happiness - they seemed to sing: “God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world.”