The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Hurricane Dorian will long be remembered by this generation as the most destructive one ever experienced since the Great Hurricane of 1932.

Our sister islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama bore the full brunt of Dorian and, while on the ground assessments are still going on it is a given that the death and destruction wrought by Dorian will be beyond imagination.

This is no time for the political games and name calling. Dr Minnis and the FNM are not to be blamed for the arrival of Dorian much less the damages and loss of life. Let all Bahamians be perfectly clear on this point.

We will learn much from Dorian and its passage. Our national building codes will be revisited. The Mudd and Pigeon Hole, along with other shanty towns, especially in Abaco and Grand Bahama, have been utterly wiped out and should not be allowed to rebuild as one sees fit. Those areas were long a blight on their respective communities.

Now, in the aftermath of this “killer” hurricane the orderly rebuilding of these areas will be a hidden blessing in disguise for many. Clean-up jobs will be immediately created.

In short order, hundreds of construction jobs and opportunities will come on stream once plans are drawn and approved. Building supply and shipping companies will thrive in what will be a robust rebuilding effort. Modern and even more hurricane resilient buildings and structures will be built.

I wish to publicly thank all of the individuals who first responded when some of our sister islands took a direct hit and heroic volunteers throughout the nation.

Truly, we are ‘Bahamas Strong’ and despite the best efforts of Dorian we will rise from the abject death and destruction of that killer storm.

Those persons who have/were engaged in looting, please do better than this in a time of national tragedy.

There is no need to steal someone else’s property and God forbid that any Bahamian would buy looted or stolen items no matter the greed and desire to get something for nothing.

The mental and financial well being of thousands of our fellow Bahamians have been negatively impacted by Dorian. Some have lost all of their visible material possessions.

Where they would have had a few dollars in the bank or credit union, they will now be obliged to deplete those funds. The Minnis administration, no doubt, will step in with waiving duties, etc., but it will also have to make other concessions, like Crown Land for residential purposes.

In Abaco, the Marsh Harbour Airport and Harbour should be placed in a public/private sector vehicle.

This would allow for the rapid rebuilding of those facilities with the least amount of governmental intervention. The people of Abaco are hard nosed individuals and they possess the “work” ethic which is absent in so many other Bahamians. My greatest fears revolve around Grand Bahama.

The recently passed National Budget for the fiscal year 2019 to 2020 has been shot out of whack.

All of the rosy figures and projections therein are like water under the bridge.

The other month some governmental agency, which, clearly, is disconnected from the ‘real’ world, opined that unemployment was down!

I never subscribed to that bogus position. Up or down does not really matter now.

Unemployment will explode as thousand migrate from Abaco and Grand Bahama into an already stressed out and crowed New Providence.

Our tourism goose has cooked to a crisp. Our Lucaya’s sale, no doubt, will be pushed back for yet more due diligence and water damage to the structure.

Hundreds of homes have been extensively damaged and scores of our schools will not be reopening for a long time to come. National recovery will take some time and all political parties must come together for the common cause of all.

Dorian just swept pass our wonderful nation and it is far too early to start cussing out the Most Honourable Prime Minister and the initial responses of the administration.

My profound condolences go out to the survivors of any storm related deceased persons and I’d hope that funeral operators will donate their services, on a case by case basis.

Despite the death and destruction, however, to God be the glory in all things.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

Nassau,

September 9, 2019.