Robertson S. Henry. Sports and Cultural Contributor
Caribbean news. Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has reiterated that there is a “ticking bomb” in the forest of St. Vincent, which, unless defused, could lead to more disasters like the one on Christmas Eve.
According to Gonsalves, Chief Engineer, Brent Bailey who flew over the country on Friday December 27, 2013 gave a “graphic report” about the wide expanse in a number of areas where rivers have spread, and lands have been denuded by landslides.
Gonsalves was speaking at the time to the media on Saturday December 28 2013 while giving a summary of the emergency planning meeting with contractors and financial institutions.
The planning meeting included members of the Vincentian Cabinet of Ministers; diplomats; senior government officials; the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairperson of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Baldwin Spencer.
Also in attendance were local and foreign contractors; utility companies, financial institutions, representatives of the governments of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, and representatives of Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the United National Development Programme, and CARICOM.
The Prime Minister added, “He suggests the figure of 10 per cent, which is a huge number.”
That ticking time bomb is because “If the logs are not cleared, and if we do not deal properly with the river defenses in the upper areas of the river…we have a time bomb.
A ticking bomb, because when the rains come again heavily, they would just simply wash down what is, so to speak, in the pipeline, in addition to new material which would come.”
