Dominica to provide assistance to St Lucia and St Vincent

Dominica, one of the Caribbean islands battered by a slow-moving low-level trough that brought death and destruction to St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, said Thursday it was prepared to assist its fellow Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries.

Acting Prime Minister Reginald Austrie, speaking on the state-owned DBS radio, said that Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is cutting short his overseas trip to return here "to continue to steer the ship of recovery".

Austrie said that he, along with other disaster officials, would be visiting several of the areas devastated by the floods caused by the weather system that has been affecting the island since Tuesday.

"Here in Dominica, we are still in fact monitoring the impact that this system has had on Dominica," he said, adding that the officials would be visiting the southern part of the island that bore the brunt of the flood damage.

Austrie said that the damage caused in St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines would also impact heavily on the efforts by the subregion to develop its economic union.

"Any activity that will have any impact on the economies of our sister nations we should be very concerned.

"We in the OECS region have been attempting to make strides in terms of improvement to our economies, improving the quality of lives for our people and these activities and destruction only seek to reverse some of the benefits we have made."

battered islands

Austrie said that Dominica would continue to monitor the situation in the OECS countries "and the government of Dominica will do whatever it can once we get the reports to assist our sister countries".

At least 13 people, including a two-year-old child, were killed in St Lucia and St Vincent and the search continues for others missing after the low-level trough accompanied by heavy winds battered the islands.

St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is cutting short his holidays in London to return home on Thursday.

- CMC