Turks & Caicos open for business after Hurricane Irma – Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson

Road to recovery

 The Government of the Turks & Caicos says the country is on the road to recovery nearly 2 weeks after it was hit by a Category 5 hurricane.

Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson has told a visiting delegation headed by Caribbean Community (CARICMO) chairman and Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell that Turks & Caicos is open for business, as life is slowly returning to normal.
“We are on the road to recovery,” she said Cartwright-Robinson ahead of her cabinet’s first meeting, planned for today, since Hurricane Irma struck.

“We are rebounding well but we are going to build back and build back stronger”.

Cartwright-Robinson told the delegation, which also included CARICOM Secretary General Erwin LaRocque and head of the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Ronald Jackson, that communications and power are being restored in most areas.
Schools which did not sustain heavy damage are scheduled to open, while the Government considers a shift system for students of other schools badly affected.

“Our priority very quickly was to get communications going. We have been facilitating them to get electricity back up and we are also going to supplement efforts of our electricity company,” the premier disclosed.

Buildings on several of the Turks & Caicos archipelago of 40 low-lying islands sustained heavy wind and rain damage.

Hurricane Irma damaged 95 percent of homes on the island of South Caicos, 100 percent of homes on Salt Cay, and about 60 percent of houses on Grand Turk, the country’s capital.
Storm surges as high as 4 meters (13 feet) were reported in some areas as coastal and damage assessments continue.

CARICOM Leadership

“We wanted to be here because we wanted to demonstrate to the people of the Turks & Caicos Islands that CARICOM leadership and the CARICOM people as a whole are clearly behind what has taken place here,” Mitchell said, adding “and we are willing to work closely with you in the reconstruction effort”.

A command center is operating on a 24-hour basis and several shelters remained open, including one in Grand Turks and another in the largest primary school on the gateway island of Providenciales.

While CDEMA and partner agencies spearhead initial recovery efforts, the Premier is reporting a shortage of tarpaulin.

Meanwhile, CARICOM has promised to give full support to the recovery efforts of Turks & Caicos, and plans are already under way for a donor’s conference.
The visit to Turks & Caicos followed a similar trip last week to the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Barbuda.-(CMC)