By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
LOOTING has reportedly set in at West End, Grand Bahama, and there is also concern that relief items brought in from abroad are not being properly monitored or turned over to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for distribution to those most in need of aid.
Joseph Darville, vice president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, was concerned about the absence of law enforcement on the ground in West End during his visits there over the past two days.
Mr Darville went into West End to observe the extent of the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew, which directly impacted the West End community on October 6.
“There is almost total decimation of the homes there, and in my initial observation I saw no sort of law enforcement agencies or anyone in control of anything (down there),” he said.
There have been reports of individuals looting from homes and businesses, taking whatever valuable items they find in unoccupied, damaged premises and properties of residents.
Mr Darville said that he does not think the incidents amounted to “petty thefts” as reported by an official.
“It is looting if you go into someone’s house whether it is broken into, and whether it is already damaged because of the storm,” he said. “You are taking things that do not belong to you - that is not petty theft. And they were going off with very valuable items, particularly owned by those who operated a business in West End, and there was no one people can make an appeal to because there was no law enforcement on the ground.”
After contacting a high ranking officer at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) in Nassau, the human rights activist said he was told that two officers would be immediately deployed to West End to prevent further looting of homes and businesses.
He was also informed that a RBDF vessel would also be deployed there with additional officers to oversee exactly what was happening.
Another issue, according to Mr Darville, was the lack of monitoring of items arriving from abroad as relief items by plane and on board yachts at West End.
“I observed something very curious when I visited West End yesterday. There are yachts coming in there, in addition to the planes that are flying in there, but there seems to be no monitoring of what is being brought in, whether or not it is being given to NEMA or the agency that is distributing goods to the people. And so the impression left on a lot of people there is that the distribution is not equitable and it is not appropriate,” he said.
According to Mr Darville, there appears to be a lot of hoarding of generators, chainsaws, and other relief items.
“In fact, one individual indicated to me that someone in some sort of authoritative position had a place that looked like Walmart - it was stocked up with items that came in. And these items were actually being sold to people all the way up into Freeport,” he claimed.
“And so I appeal to government to get some control of the situation down there. When I did go back there today, in spite of the fact that seeing the yachts coming in and people coming there with lots of stuff and hoarding the stuff away from there, it did not end up in any of the normal distribution centres for storm relief. And so it is a situation that is really critical,” Mr Darville said.
The human rights activist estimated that about 80 per cent of the homes in West End were totally destroyed and that many residents are going to be dependent upon charity from abroad.
He indicated that the distribution of goods to residents must be put in the hands of “responsible people” so that it is fair.
“It is not fair for people to have to go and buy stuff from individuals who are hoarding it when it should be given them free of charge,” Mr Darville said.
“What we need in situations like this is the calling in of the National Guards like in the US to go into distressed areas. We should have a contingent of that as well,” he said.
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