According to CDEMA’s Rapid Needs Assessment draft final report on Hurricane Beryl’s damage to St. Vincent’s housing infrastructure, rebuilding the damaged structures will likely cost more than $400 million once all of the data from the assessment is finalised.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said that the draft report is partial, the full assessment is not complete, and it understates the damage in housing and tourism-related matters.
“CDEMA’s rapid needs assessment estimates from their incomplete rapid assessment data state it will cost $215 million to restore the housing damage. However, it further states that if one rebuilds in accordance with the current Caricom Regional Code of Practice for houses in the Caribbean, the estimated cost jumps to $335 million, and when all the data is in, the repair and rebuilding of these houses are likely to cost in excess of $400 million.”.
Gonsalves cautiously presented a summary of the housing data, noting that the report made a distinction between cladding losses and roof frame losses.
“The term ‘roof cladding’ generally refers to corrugated material in various shapes and, in some cases, shingles.” Let’s look at the cladding losses full and partial in Union Island: full losses 822 houses, partial 98; Mayreau 62 full losses with 50, partial; Canouan 272 full cladding losses, 338 partial; Mustique 213 full cladding losses, partial 305; and Bequia 852 full cladding losses, 1218 partial”.
”Calliaqua Census District: there were 296 full cladding losses, 690 partial; Kingstown suburbs: 150 full cladding losses, 350 partial; Kingstown itself: 146 full cladding losses, 341 partial; total damages: cladding 2814 and 3438 partial.”.
”For the roof frame losses, there were a total of 1062 full roff frame losses and 2066 partial. Thus, 6252 houses had full or partial cladding losses, and 3668 houses had roof frame losses from the geographic area surveyed,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said to Saint Vincent Hundreds of houses outside of the surveyed area were damaged or destroyed.
“For instance, in Marriaqua, Diamond, Pole Yard, and certainly, the data does not include Top Glen, where in one area there are 28 houses, an informal human settlement, and all of them are gone,” he said.
