Distressed Spring Village residents are awaiting flood relief grants from the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services (MSDFS).
Clothing, schoolbooks, furniture, vehicles, and household appliances were washed away. The flood, which reached five feet in some areas of the squatting site, stranded dozens of residents inside their homes and forced others to sleep on the community’s recreational ground.
The Government announced earlier this month a $40 million flood relief refund to assist those who were impacted and distressed.
In a subsequent release, the MSDFS announced a collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government to support relief efforts for affected households.
A team of ministry field officers and the municipal corporations’ Disaster Management Unit went to the affected residents’ homes to assess their losses.
According to the release, the MSDFS used the ArcGIS system (a cloud-based mapping and analysis solution) to assess and substantiate all claims in order to process them quickly and make payments.
The ministry had received 3,246 applications at the time for processing by a special unit within the National Social Development Programmes.
The disaster relief grants included food support valued at $550, household items up to $10,000, school grant (primary $700 and secondary $1,000), rental assistance of $2,500 for a period of three months, minor house repairs up to $20,000 and sanitary plumbing assistance up to $15,000.
No response from Cox
On Tuesday, a list of questions on the grant issues was WhatsApped to Cox.
The minister was asked when the residents of Spring Village would receive their grants, if there had been a delay in payments by her ministry, how many applications had been received for processing to date, and how much money the ministry was likely to pay out to flood victims.
Cox read the message but gave no response.
Ameen: Spring Village residents left to fend for themselves; need help the most
St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen expressed concern for the flood victims in Spring Village, many of whom are unemployed, pensioners, minimum wage earners, or recipients of disability grants.
“The recovery for them would be harder. They need the help the most because they live in plywood houses that have been soaked and falling apart. A lot of them are now homeless. Their houses have been destroyed.”
Ameen said she grew up “in a board house” and “knows what poverty is,” so she can relate to their plight.
She said their overall losses may not be huge, “But what they lost is everything they owed and worked for. What you are seeing is people who are not in any position financially to replace their losses. They are hand-to-mouth…struggling to make ends meet.”
Ameen is also the MP for Bamboo Settlement #2 which was also hard hit by the floods.
“All the focus is on Bamboo Settlement, but Spring Village is the forgotten area.”
The MP said approximately $100,000 in hampers, clothes, baby formula, medication, water, and hot meals were donated by citizens and businesses in the community during the flood.
“These items were donated by people and businesses I approached for help. We had no rescue agencies coming down to Spring Village. These people were left to fend on their own.”
The Opposition MP urged Social Development and Family Services Minister Donna Cox to distribute the grants as soon as possible so that they could get back on their feet.
Ameen questioned why these grants were taking so long to be distributed, claiming that residents of Greenvale and other communities affected by the 2018 flood received their cheques one week later.
“I believe the ministry has the capability to prepare and present these grants quickly.”