ST. LUCIA – At the beginning of the regular meeting, of the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States Thursday August 23 a one minute silence was observed in memory of the victims of Hurricane Dean which last week wrecked havoc on Saint Lucia and a number of other Caribbean States.
Ambassador Deborah-Mae Lovell, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda and Permanent Council Chair, expressed her solidarity with the governments and peoples affected by the disaster. “The strength of an organization such as ours (the OAS) and the ability to reach out in support and solidarity becomes evident in a time like this.”
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said that the Organization, through the Inter-American Emergency Aid Fund (FONDEM) worked with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) to raise funds that will help the recovery efforts. Insulza said that these organizations had raised approximately US$200,000, and that amount is expected to increase in the next few days. Saint Lucia’s Acting Prime Minister Honourable Stephenson King will be handed the Damage Assessment Report for Saint Lucia next week.
However, the Secretary General stressed that, although urgent help is critical, the region must examine long-term strategies to improve its ability to face these types of crises. “These tragedies tend to show the strength of our people and their ability to recover, but they also reveal the enormous weakness of the regional organizations’ support mechanisms,” he said.
