The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

In one way Hurricane Dorian has made me bitter towards so many people.

Like how the government has put up so much red tape that it has handicapped relief efforts. And how the government who will not stop the looting, and who through a combination of restrictions on supplies, along with the lack of law enforcement, has turned “normal” people into looters.

Those looters have not only destroyed the town but have created an atmosphere of fear that has further handicapped rescue and relief efforts, and discouraged people from rebuilding.

Most people just dropped everything and left out of fear of the looters or fear of the cholera rumour. Others that were not injured or didn’t have injured family members were going to stay and save what they had left.

But so many left simply out of fear, they left wet homes shuttered up knowing mould would destroy their homes, they left boat motors and car engines to seize up that could have been easily serviced and got running again, they left basic roof repairs unfinished knowing more rain would destroy their homes further, they left family members that were still unaccounted for because they were afraid to go through the looters looking for them.

No doubt many of the flood victims were washed out to sea but no search and rescue effort by boat occurred the first few days out of fear of the looters.

I personally had a boat ready to put in the water that I was going to use to go look for family members but was afraid to leave my family and home unattended.

What adds insult to injury is that all of the foreign law enforcement in the country were willing to provide security and stop the looters, but the Bahamas government and law enforcement pretended to have the situation under control when every resident on the ground were crying for more help.

The cholera rumour could have been dispelled with one simple news conference where a leading doctor in The Bahamas could have explained what cholera is and how to avoid contracting it.

All of the governments unwillingness to act gave a lot of people the impression that the government was wilfully trying to destroy the town which led to even more people dropping everything and leaving, further handicapping the situation.

There are so many conspiracy theories one of which is that the government didn’t ask any foreign organisations to remove and search under the rubble for survivors or bodies because they plan on bulldozing the rubble and burying it to hide the real death toll that is exponentially higher than their official report.

Total government failure is the most common phrase that I’m hearing.

AMOS WEATHERFORD

Marsh Harbour,

September 23, 2019.