NERO NEWS DAILY BRIEFING Wednesday, September 15, 2004 ****************************************** Nero News is a daily briefing from the National Emergency Relief Organisation's Emergency Operations Centre of Grenada Address: NERO, Fort Frederic, St Georges, Grenada Tel: (473) 405-1822 / 1823 ****************************************** CBC radio a friend indeed Grenadians are full of praise and credit for the Caribbean Broadcasting Cooperation of Barbados for its unselfish and untiring efforts to inform and bring hope to all our people in this period of grave crisis. The Barbados radio station has been the key communications channel for Grenada following the devastation of its broadcast stations by Ivan, the Terrible. Before the Hurricane and thereafter CBC has integrated with the hurricane-ravaged citizens. Each morning the words of encouragement and optimism are forthcoming. Hundreds of Grenadians are given the opportunity to call and send greetings to loved ones. In this period of grave crisis and despair CBC and the Barbadian people have helped to keep hope alive. Regional Prime Ministers in solidarity Three Regional Prime Ministers - Trinidad and Tobago’s Patrick Manning, Dr. Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia and Vincentian Dr. Ralph Gonzales have visited hurricane ravaged Grenada. Each leader met with Prime Minister Dr. the Right honorable Keith Mitchell and promised their respective nation’s support. Resident Representative of UNDP, President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Secretary General of CARICOM Edwin Carrington and Secretary General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean states also met with the Prime Minister as well as visited NERO’s headquarters. CARICOM countries have each provided technical and material support to the Government and people of Grenada. Barbados has donated one hundred thousand US dollars while others have contributed troops and food to assist in the recovery process. Grenada’s economy begins to roll Public officers in several ministries have returned to work as the recovery process begins a week after the Hurricane Ivan battered Grenada and brought the country to a stand still. On Tuesday the government machinery began to roll with workers from all ministries and departments engaging in a clean up of their officers. Later this week most, if not, all government departments are expected to be in operations and getting the national economy on back track. Also on Tuesday banks and other commercial entities started the process of preparing themselves to resume business. Clean up in full gear All the major roads in Grenada are again open to traffic. Grenadian workers strongly supported by the Caribbean Regional Security System and soldiers from the Trinidad and Barbados regiments launched a massive clean up of the roads leading in and out of all the parishes. The more than four hours of strong wins and heavy rain littered the roads and other parts of the country with debris. Workers spent the better part of the first three days after the hurricane removing huge trunks of trees, land slide and rocks from the roads. Residents of the many communities across Grenada have also invested much time in cleaning their villages. The Solid waste department has provided adequate support in disposing the many tons of debris. Ivan spares no one The Parishes of St. George and St. David were the hardest by Hurricane Ivan. More than ninety percent of the houses in the two parishes had their roof top blown off. The wretched Hurricane speared no one - the houses in the suburbs were pounded and shattered as those in the rural communities. Many of Grenada’s leading business people as well as prominent citizens watched their homes buckled under the force of the most devastating Hurricane to hit Grenada. Governor General Sir Daniel Williams, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and former Chief Justice Carol Bristol were among persons who will have to rebuild their roofs and sections of their houses. World Bank team visits Grenada A World Bank team is in Grenada to assess the damages of Hurricane Ivan. The team of officials toured several of the shattered areas and met with government officials and personnel of the National Emergency Organization NERO. The team spent several hours putting its reports together. It is estimated that the cost of the Hurricane will run in excess of a several billion American dollars Local officials are banking on international assistance to aggressively rebuild much of the infrastructure. The Agriculture and tourism sectors are among the hardest hit. Several hotels are seriously damaged and much destruction is visible in the important nutmeg industry. Prime Minister visits NERO NERO’s headquarters at Mt. Wendell was severely battered by Hurricane Ivan, forcing the organization to relocate to its Forth Frederick building which was financed by the World Bank and the government. When the building lost its roof and other sections were smashed the director and several members were in the building, but no one was injured. Prime Minister Mitchell visited the new facilities and held discussion with the leadership. NERO’s office is in operation 18 hours a day and is the focal point for the management of the recovery. DR. Mitchell has taken the lead in call for national unity and cooperation in the clean up and rebuilding of the country. He has addressed the people several times in the past seven days. Other ministers of government have also visited the Headquarters.