T&T sending emergency supplies for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia

A Caribbean Airlines plane is taking relief and emergency supplies to St Lucia Friday as part of the Trinidad and Tobago efforts to help its CARICOM neighbours in the wake of devastating storms that have killed several people and damaged major infrastructure.

A vessel with two forty-foot containers of supplies for the island left Trinidad Thursday and is expected to arrive Friday.

Efforts are being made to help St Vincent as well.

On Friday morning Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, as Chair of CARICOM and lead Prime Minister on security in the region, spoke with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines about the present situation there following the severe weather over the 24-hour period from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.

Persad-Bissessar expressed her sympathies for the families who lost loved ones and those whose homes were destroyed and flooded by the inclement weather.

The Prime Ministers also spoke of the extensive damage to the infrastructure of St. Vincent and the Grenadines including flooding of the only major hospital, the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, and damage done to the E.T. Joshua Airport. They also discussed the severe damage to roads and bridges around the islands.

Persad-Bissessar assured Gonsalves that Trinidad and Tobago is willing to assist St. Vincent and the Grenadines with relief efforts and emergency supplies as necessary.

She told him that she is sending an assessment team led by Dr. Stephen Ramroop, Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management, and Rear Admiral Richard Kelshall, Regional Security Coordinator in the Office of the Prime Minister. 

The team is going to St Vincent Friday to determine the needs of the islands. Rear Admiral Kelshall is also scheduled to attend a meeting with Prime Minister Gonsalves following his initial assessment.

Additionally, Persad-Bissessar received a call Thursday from Prime Minister Freundel Stuart of Barbados in which he gave the assurance that CARICOM that Barbados also stand ready to assist in relief efforts to their CARICOM partners.