Relief Efforts Bring Food and Supplies to the Brac

(From left) Telford Miller, Chief Agricultural Officer for Cayman Brac; Kearney Gomez, Head of the Command Centre and Chief Officer in the Ministry of District Administration; Cayman Airways Capt Devon McLaughlin; and CAL staff member Melford Solomon get ready for an early-morning Sunday (9 November) flight bringing supplies and equipment to Cayman Brac.

At least four relief efforts, both public and private, were under way on Sunday afternoon, 9 November, to bring tarpaulins, blankets, food, batteries and medical supplies to the hurricane-battered Sister Islands.

However, government has asked people to delay sending private supplies while the Chamber of Commerce, working alongside an ad hoc group formed on Saturday night, shipped at least 15 tons of material, slated for arrival on Monday morning.

“We have sent roof-covering material; and tarps right away, but food and water is not so much an immediate issue,” said Deputy Chief Secretary Donovan Ebanks, Chairman of the National Hurricane Committee (NHC).

“The pressing issue is for ‘hands’, for emergency responders, for police and fire and medical staff,” he said. “We have called on people from key areas like health, education and human services.

“Our immediate need is to get transportation and distribution capability up. We need to get the runway drained so we can start flights,” he said, hoping a trench adjacent to the runway would clear accumulated water by late afternoon.

However, he called on people to delay sending private contributions until government had determined what supplies were necessary.

“Things are being worked on and stuff is arriving this evening and tomorrow morning,” Mr Ebanks told Cayman Net News on Sunday, “and while we are grateful for the support, we don’t want people just to send a lot of things. We want them to contribute, but we will say what we need, maybe tomorrow when we get a consistent and reliable means of transport.”

Meanwhile Vaughan Smith, was leading a private group of 20 people on their own relief mission.

“This looks like [Hurricane] Ivan to them,” Mr Smith said. “I’m a Caymanian and we are getting supplies out to Cayman Brac, essentials, things like batteries and water.

“It’s me and about 20 other Caymanians,” he said, waiting for flights to resume to Gerrard Smith International Airport, hand-carrying supplies. “We are carrying as much as we can, two bags each.”

Meanwhile, at Prospect’s Harbour House Marina, the Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with Mr Ebanks and the Hazard Management unit, and alongside a private-sector effort led by local attorney Theresa Pitcairn and Chamber President Eddie Thompson, dispatched 15 tons of supplies and another four tons to five tons of ice on two private fishing boats by mid-afternoon.

”We are delivering anything in any way, shape or form. We are asking people to deliver to school sites and there should be teachers sending emails; we are taking deliveries at the Maedac Centre,” said Eddie Thompson. “We have 15 tons on board that has been donated from individuals and businesses like Foster’s and Cayman Imports.”

Loading the Carib Eagle had started at 9:00 am, Mr Thompson said. The 100-mile trip took approximately 10 hours and supplies would be delivered to the port on the Brac, where emergency workers would assume control, storing, transporting and distributing supplies.

Cargo included thousands of bottles of water, new gas pumps for the local Texaco station, several generators and food.

The privately owned Cayman Aggressor was carrying tarps, repair materials, a Public Works crew to aid repairs and other equipment and supplies from the Cayman Islands Red Cross.

Wil Pineau, Chamber of Commerce CEO and Chairman of the NHC’s Economic Continuity Subcommittee, said other private vessels would also carry supplies, although he was unable to estimate the numbers, and that additional trips would depend on repairs to the local airport and “the return of jet flights”.

“I want to thank all of the supermarkets, and the businesses and the individuals for their efforts, for their overwhelming support,” Mr Pineau said.

Sister Islands MLA for the United Democratic Party (UDP) Juliana O’Connor-Connolly was philosophical, saying that she had been through Hurricane Ivan.

“Everybody here is pretty resilient and will do everything they can to bounce back. Friends and families and even people from the UDP have been calling,” she said, while West Bay MLA Capt Eugene Ebanks had personally brought in recovery supplies.

“The supplies will probably come in on the South Side and government will probably use the fire station. They’ve got quite a few personnel and trucks over there, and it’s close to the docks,” she said.

While damage assessments were only starting at the time of this report, Ms O’Connor-Connolly predicted the worst-hit areas of Cayman Brac would be in Spot Bay and the Watering Place “where there are quite a lot of old wooden homes”.

Finally, Bing Thompson said he would coordinate with government the regular departure from Grand Cayman of his two Thompson Shipping barges for Cayman Brac through the middle of this week.

“It’s the same thing we’ve been doing for 30 years, but a stepped-up version. We will cooperate with everyone else with what they’re doing, making sure people get what they need,” he said.

He noted that two barges were returning to Grand Cayman from Cuba, where they were sheltering, with the first to be loaded Monday with heavy equipment, a process that takes about four hours to five hours. The barge was scheduled for a Tuesday arrival on the Brac.

“The other one we’ll load on Tuesday,” Mr Thompson said, “but it won’t sail till it’s loaded up on everything, but it will go on Tuesday or Wednesday and take a lot of material over.

“This is like the morning after Hurricane Ivan; there’s a lot of damage.”

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Source: caymannetnews.com