And while that's how the prime minister and the NEMO minister felt about the storm - how did those in poor housing situations feel about it? You'll hear form them shortly, but first to the issue of who do these needy people go to?
There are thousands of affected persons, in the Belize District, including SAN PEDRO and CAYE CAULKER as well as PARTS OF CAYO, STANN CREEK AND ORANGE WALK. INDEED Earl was a big storm that left a huge footprint of devastation on the country. But government does not have huge resources to meet everyone's needs. Today the PM was deliberate in not getting anyone's hopes up:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"NEMO will provide all those in need with their basic package in terms of water and food stuff and that sort of thing. Going forward an effort will be made to do a needs assessments. Talking now in respect to individuals, government will provide resources to assist these people. Now, please pay careful attention to the word I'm using "assist." It is not going to be possible for us simply to rebuild homes for people who have might have been unfortunate enough to have their homes damage to a point where it is beyond repair. The Deputy Prime Minister this morning suggested to me that I do not raise expectations and create any false hope on the part of expectations and create any false hope on the part of those that have been affected. We will do our very best and we intend to try to assist each and every single person, but there is a limit to the extent we can provide. No area representative will be given any money or access to funds to deal with constituents. Everybody must be handled as objectively and as fairly as possible and as professionally as possible through NEMO."
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