St Vincent PM says most evacuees from Orange Zone must leave shelters jamaicaobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jamaicaobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Residents in Orange Zone sent home
Residents of the Orange Zone – e.g. Georgetown as pictured here – even before the order was given to return, had begun returning to their homes to do preliminary cleaning.
By: Gloriah•
Displaced persons up to the Rabacca River on the Eastern side of the island and up to Petit Bordel on the West, began returning to their homes earlier this week.
According to Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves as he spoke on radio on May 23, residents from the Orange Zone displaced following the series of eruptions of the La Soufrière volcano and who were accommodated in emergency shelters, were expected to begin their return on Tuesday 25th May.
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Kingstown – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says his government expects that most evacuees from the volcano Orange Zone and people whose houses were damaged by the La Soufriere eruption are to leave emergency shelters by next Tuesday.
He said only those from Fitz Hughes and Chateaubelair – where there is still a lot of ash would not be allowed to go.
“But everywhere else in the Orange Zone, as I speak, persons should be leaving the shelters to go back home,” the prime minister said, speaking on NBC Radio from Cuba where he has gone to accompany his wife for therapy after spinal surgery in the United States earlier this year.
NBC SVG
Speaking on NBC Radio’s
Eyeing La Soufriere program this morning, the Prime Minister said persons are also being allowed to return to the Orange Zone, except Fitz Hughes and Chateaubelair.
He noted that while there has been no explosive eruption of La Soufriere Volcano since April 22
nd there is still some danger.
The Prime Minister made it clear that persons are being allowed to return home to some areas, but other areas are still off limits for residents to re-settle.
Left to right Conroy Toney, Egbert Thomas and Verrol Ince. Social Share
The government has given the all-clear for persons in the Soufriere orange zone up to Petit Bordel on the Leeward side and Mt Young on the Windward side to return home.
But, this decision is generating mixed feelings among evacuees.
Some have said they cannot wait to return home; while others are saying they feel as if they were being forced out of the emergency shelters to homes that are not yet liveable.
“Give me a shovel and a wheel barrow,” a woman at the Kingstown Preparatory School (KPS) shelter told SEARCHLIGHT said on Thursday.