UK unveils new hurricane support plans for BOTs
Royal Navy conducts hurricane exercises on Grand Cayman
(CNS): The British government has revealed a range of new measures to make sure its Caribbean territories have the support they need if there is a repeat of the devastating hurricanes that hit the region last year. The additional measures include the full seasonal deployment of the Royal Navy vessel, RFA Mounts Bay, to the region, a military reconnaissance, analysis of critical infrastructure, plans for a multi-national coordination cell in the Caribbean, and emergency humanitarian supplies, including over 1,000 collapsible jerrycans, 1,000 hygiene kits and 1,000 shelter kits.
According to a release from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK government has also deployed officials to the area to lead negotiations on a number of commercial contracts to deliver essential recovery needs.
The UK said it had helped ensure that all British Overseas Territories affected by the hurricanes last year are now insured under the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Fund (CCRIF), which is domiciled in the Cayman Islands and was created after the devastation of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Cayman has been a member of the fund for many years, and the UK is now helping BVI and Montserrat to join as new members.
The FCO minister with responsibility for the BOTs, Lord Ahmad, who is expected to be in the region again later this month, said the UK had provided critical support and help with recovery efforts, which he said has had a huge impact.
“The UK continues to work closely with the governments of the overseas territories in their recovery efforts and in helping to rebuild their economies,” he said. “We have also been working hard with key partners across the region to ensure an even more effective and strategic response in the event we see a repeat of last year’s hurricane season.”
Last September, after storms hit Anguilla, BVI and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the UK committed an immediate £72 million. Then in November, Prime Minister Theresa May committed a further £70 million for reconstruction efforts and £300 million of UK loan guarantees.
Related article: New forecast calls for quieter storm season
Category: Local News, Science & Nature, Weather
Don’t offer assistance to the ones that are kicking up a fuss about taking proper steps to set up a public register of beneficial ownership.
Don’t destroy their economies with public registers of beneficial ownership the Daily Mail can salivate over for months so they need assistance recovering from natural disasters. How about that.
All well and good if we ain’t so stupid as to refuse their offer of assistance last time it was needed.
Wasn’t their assistance limited to $3 million in total? i.e. here’s a quarter. Now, get out of my face.
It might have been a great deal more if Cayman hadn’t said “We don’t want help”.
Nice attempt to revise history. Must be a royal apologist. They have never given us proper help. Even after Paloma the generators they brought were for UK electrical power and could not be converted.