The government covered 60 to 70 percent of recovery and relief costs following hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, but will likely have to cover up to 90 percent of those costs after Hurricane Wilma, according to a senior government official.
“I suspect it’s a form of donor fatigue taking place,” said Minister of State for Finance James Smith, who spoke with The Bahama Journal outside the Senate building yesterday after the Disaster Preparedness and Response Bill was read for a first time in the Senate.
“You must realize that corporate and private individuals went really deep for Frances and Jeanne. In fact, they were still doing that up until May of this year and within a few months we had Wilma and there is a limit, I think, to resources, not just on the corporate level, but on the individual level as well.”
He said donations since Hurricane Wilma have been “very slow and very little”.
But Minister Smith said he is certain that donors would still come forward even though the pace of donations is moving really slowly right now – and he encouraged them to do so.
Hurricane Wilma caused widespread devastation to parts of the northern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama, when it struck on October 24. The storm caused destructive sea surges that destroyed more than 100 houses, leaving thousands of people homeless.
It came just over a year after Frances made a devastating trek through The Bahamas, unleashing its fury on Grand Bahama and other islands, including Abaco and San Salvador.
Residents in some parts of The Bahamas were also still rebuilding from Jeanne when Wilma lashed the northern Bahamas.
Minister Smith said it is clear that the government must now budget for hurricane relief annually.
“We ought to incorporate as a line item in the budget an amount annually based on what has been happening in the past because we can expect at least one hurricane every year hitting The Bahamas,” he said.
The Disaster Preparedness and Response Bill would establish the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as a statutory body with a specific budget geared at supporting its work.
Minister Smith said hurricane victims will continue to receive the amount of aid that is necessary, but the government will have to increase its proportion of aid.
Meanwhile, the action committee for Hurricane Wilma relief, chaired by businessman Franklyn Wilson, has raised approximately $500,000 to assist storm victims.
The committee so far has collected more than $300,000 for the effort.
Minister Smith said the government hopes that more donors would continue to come forward.
“In the Bahamas, we’re in a hurricane zone and this will be an annual event. If it’s not the northern Bahamas, it will be the central Bahamas. If it’s not the central it would be the south, but sooner or later we all will be touched by some hurricane and there will be this continuous need for assistance from the public,” he said.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
