Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 09, 2021 (SKNIS): The National Disaster Mitigation Council convened an emergency meeting on April 9 to mobilize support to assist persons affected by the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent.
The meeting, which was held at the Antioch Baptist Church in Limekiln, was attended by Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris; Chair of the National Disaster Mitigation Council (NDMC) and Chair of the Ministerial Council for the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Hon. Vincent Byron Jr.; Hon. Wendy Phipps, Co-Chair of NDMC; the Hon. Akilah Byron-Nisbett, Minister of Health; National Disaster Coordinator, Mr. Abdias Samuel (Chair of the Meeting); representatives from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce; NGO’s; Security Heads; and senior government officials.
La Soufriere volcano erupted on the morning of April 9, spewing its guts 8 km into the air, and covering a significant part of St. Vincent.
Minister Byron Jr. said that “despite months and months of preparation and planning on paper when it came to the actual implementation, there has been some difficulty.”
“We are here today not just to be informed about this but for St. Kitts and Nevis to galvanize ourselves in an effort to see in what ways we can support our neighbouring islands and St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a part of the OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States), CARICOM (Caribbean Community), part of the CDEMA family of nations, and so we want to be in a position to lend any assistance we can give,” said Minister Byron Jr. “We know that the northern part of St. Vincent has had to be evacuated and the figures range between 16, 000 to 20, 000 persons that have to be moved.”
He said that some persons will be accommodated in St. Vincent, while others will have to be evacuated to neighbouring islands. He indicated that St. Kitts and Nevis is considering support, which can in logistics, financial support, skilled personnel, accepting displaced persons, or civil society contributions.
Prime Minister Harris, who said he had communicated with Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, said that he was informed that 8000 persons were expected to find accommodation with family or friends, 12, 000 were to be evacuated to shelters, but that the country only had the capacity to cater for 5000 persons, and that 7000 will have to move to other islands within the OECS, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Additionally, he said that two cruise ships have agreed to help with the accommodation of persons for some time.
Dr. Harris said that the option remains of assisting St. Vincent with material resources and that the country had requested cots, blankets, and peripheral water tanks. He also said that plans were afoot to have the displaced persons tested for COVID-19 and inoculated.
“Cabinet is committed. Cabinet will be a good Samaritan on this particular effort. We want to be our brothers’ keeper and our sisters’ keeper too, but we have to do it in the most efficient way,” Prime Minister Harris said.
Elizabeth Riley, Executive Director of CDEMA, who gave an update on the situation on the ground in St. Vincent, began by expressing solidarity with the Government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines at this difficult time.
“I think the situation really reiterates the realities of the multi-hazard environment in which we all operate as members of the CDEMA system and in this particular case we have our complex incidences of COVID-19, which is affecting all of us, volcanic eruption, which this morning has transitioned to an explosive eruption and of course we have the upcoming hurricane season,” Ms. Riley said.
She added: “As you are aware, we have been notified by the seismic research centre this morning that approximately 20 minutes to 9 or so that La Soufriere volcano transitioned from an effusive type of eruption to an explosive one. We have been told that most persons have been evacuated from the red zone, which is the high-risk zone. The explosive eruption has posed some challenges with respect to visibility and in fact, hindered the pace of some of the evacuation efforts in-country.”
In the coming days, the National Disaster Mitigation Council with collaboration from the private and public sector will finalize concretely what assistance will be offered to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 5, 2020 (ZIZ News): The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is cautioning citizens, residents and business establishments against becoming complacent and being non-compliant with the established COVID-19 protocols set out in the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) Regulations.
Currently, there is only one active case of COVID-19 in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. That individual is expected to make a full recovery.
Attorney General the Honourable Vincent Byron Jr. says the Federation’s success in managing and containing the spread of the virus seems to have ultimately led to a false sense of security by many citizens and residents.
The honourable minister advised that even though persons may appear not to be infected, “asymptomatic individuals can spread the virus, and if there is any community spread in St. Kitts and Nevis it will be difficult for us to reel it in.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), Mr. Abdias Samuel, pointed out that businesses are also now becoming too relaxed in enforcing the necessary guidelines for patrons entering and moving about in their establishments.
The latest Emergency Powers (COVID-19) Regulations came into effect from Saturday, August 01at 5:00am and will expire at 4:59am on Saturday, August 08, 2020.
The mandatory wearing of masks in public places, social distancing and physical distancing protocols remain in effect.
]]>BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, August 05, 2020 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, says his Government welcomes continued dialogue with members of the private sector on matters pertaining to COVID-19 and the local economy, particularly as his administration has long adopted an all-of-society approach to addressing the global pandemic and its impact on the Federation.
Prime Minister Harris made this remark during a meeting with Government officials and the executive of the St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce today, Wednesday, August 05 at the Ministry of Finance Conference Room.
“COVID-19 is at heart, and still is, a health pandemic. Nothing has changed with regard to that. It started that way and it remains that way, except that it has now morphed into another crisis of an economic nature, and so we are attempting really to meander the delegate pathways of a health crisis and a global economic crisis. We don’t think we have all the answers and so we welcome these kinds of dialogue in a sincere effort at partnership in a constructive way for national building,” Prime Minister Harris remarked.
Prime Minister Harris was supported in the meeting by his Cabinet colleagues Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Shawn Richards; Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Lindsay Grant and Attorney General, the Honourable Vincent Byron Jr.
During the meeting, the Government updated the Chamber officials on what is happening at the ministerial and National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) levels as it relates to protecting citizens and residents from the deadly virus, as well as moving closer to the eventual reopening of the Federation’s borders to international and regional visitors.
The honourable prime minister stated that his Cabinet is on board for the opening up of the country, but insists that his Government will arrive at that point in a carefully managed way, taking into consideration all necessary guidelines and protocols.
“We want to open as soon as is practically reasonable to do so and what we have said is that we would want all the critical stakeholders to begin the process of reorganizing their approach to business, their plans, their business places, their human resource training so that they can be ready for the opening up,” Prime Minister Harris said.
President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mrs. Giselle Matthews described the dialogue as productive, adding that, “We leave here today with a whole lot of information. We thank you again for hosting us and for providing us with invaluable information [so that we know] there is a whole host of planning and strategizing going on behind the scenes for which we are very pleased to hear.”
Also in attendance at this morning’s meeting were Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Andrew Skerritt; Financial Secretary, Mrs. Hilary Hazel, and Chief Executive Officer of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Ms. Racquel Brown.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws; Medical Chief of Staff of the JNF General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, and Chair of the National Emergency Operations Center; Mr. Abdias Samuel were also present to give updated statistics on the local and global COVID-19 situations.
]]>