ADDRESS TO BE DELIVERED BY
HIS EXCELLENCY CHARLES A. SAVARIN, DAH
PRESIDENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA
ON THE OCCASION OF THE DECLARATION
OF NATIONAL DAYS OF MOURNING IN THE WAKE OF THE
DEVASTATION CAUSED BY TROPICAL STORM ERIKA
THURSDAY, 3RD SEPTEMBER 2015
Fellow Dominicans,
One week ago today, that is on Thursday, 27th August 2015,
we were awakened early in the morning to torrential rains,
deafening claps of thunder and sizzling lightning. The sight
which greeted us on looking outside was frightening. Tropical
Storm Erika was literally sitting on top of us.
When most of us retired to bed on the night of Wednesday,
August 26, we were relieved that Dominica was neither under
a storm watch nor a storm warning and that from all the
weather reports, Tropical Storm Erika was veering well north
of Dominica. We expected some rain, perhaps even some
heavy showers, but nothing like what we actually experienced.
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The country endured the tumultuous and persistent rainfall
for several hours and by daybreak, after a restless night with
very little sleep, the nation was suddenly awakened with a
strong sense that what we had been experiencing over the
past five or so hours, was an unusual event.
By that time, electricity, water and telecommunication
services were not available throughout most of the country.
Concern and near panic began to set in when people realised
that it was impossible to make contact with friends and
relatives living in hazardous areas and in low lying
communities, which made them highly vulnerable to the
harmful effects of flash flooding.
Fortunately, the local radio stations were operational and
transmitting. As the morning progressed and people anxiously
tuned in to their radio stations, the overwhelming magnitude
of the disaster that visited the nation, like a thief in the night,
robbing it of both life and property, began to unfold.
The images emerging on Facebook pages told a horrendous
and gruesome story of apocalyptic dimension. Communities in
the North West and South East had been levelled to the
ground and other areas were under siege by rising water and
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mud as the raging rivers swept away bridges, roads, homes
and anything that stood in the way of their destructive path.
We heard and gazed in amazement and disbelief as the
mountainous and scenic village of Petite Savanne was
virtually razed to the ground with harrowing accounts of loss
of life and many more missing. There were also reports of loss
of life in Bath Estate, Good Hope, Castle Bruce and Delices.
There were scenes of devastation in Good Hope, Delices, Lower
Canefield,
Pichelin,
Dubique,
Bath
Estate,
Colihaut,
Coulisbistrie, Macoucherie and along the banks of the Roseau
river. I have chosen to highlight these areas, but the truth is no
area in Dominica remained unscathed from the effects of the
rains of Tropical Storm Erika. Additionally, Douglas Charles
Airport which was recently renovated, suffered serious
flooding and commercial flights in and out of that airport
have been suspended.
On Monday, 31st August, I met with representatives of the
Scouts Association and later that day with representatives of
the Roseau City Council, the Dominica Association of Industry
and Commerce (DAIC) and the Dominica Hotel and Tourism
Association (DHTA) to discuss how they could collaborate
with each other in the massive clean up operation,
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particularly in the commercial and administrative heart of the
Capital City of Roseau.
On Tuesday, 1st September, I had the opportunity along with
the French Ambassador to Dominica, the President of the
Regional Council of Martinique and the our Minister for
Foreign Affairs, to do a helicopter flyover of the affected areas
and I was astonished by the magnitude of the destruction that
was evident. My wife and I also visited those on the Alford
Ward of the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) who sustained
severe injuries; and also persons from Petite Savanne and
Paradise Valley, Bath Estate, who were displaced by Erika and
are housed at the Dominica Grammar School and Roseau the
Primary School, respectively.
Those of my generation have gone through many natural
disasters, including hurricane David in 1979. This hurricane
which lingered over the island with winds that gusted up to
150 miles per hour, caused widespread damage and loss of
life. No one expected that a tropical storm with winds of less
than 50 miles per hour would have unleashed such a
downpour to cause death and destruction on a scale
comparable to and in some locations, worse than that caused
by Hurricane David.
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Fellow Dominicans, my wife Clara and I feel the pain and the
grief of all the families who have lost loved ones in this
catastrophy; we convey deepest condolences to them all and
pray God’s strength to carry them through during this trying
period of deep loss. With time, our unwavering support one for
the other, and abiding faith in God, those most seriously
affected will be able to rebuild their lives and be a stronger
people for having gone through this terrible experience.
There are so many of our sons and daughters, brothers and
sisters mothers and fathers, who have seen their life’s work
shattered and brought to rubble before their very eyes and
now face a future of uncertainty. But all is not lost. That
great Dominican spirit of coming together in times of
adversity and helping each other to carry his load, has once
again come alive in all our communities. It is that spirit that
caused us to rise from the ruins of Hurricane David, and that
same spirit will cause us to rise from the rubble of Tropical
Storm Erika.
I commend
the humility and magnanimity of spirit
demonstrated by the Honourable Prime Minister who was
quick to realise that the rebuilding and restoration of
Dominica required a united effort on all fronts, and invited the
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Parliamentary opposition to join the Cabinet Advisory
Committee to chart the way forward for the country.
It was equally magnanimous of the Leader of the opposition to
accept that invitation. I now call on all supporters of the
government as well as supporters of the opposition, whether
at home or abroad, to set aside their differences and join
hands with one another in this national effort of recovery. It
is my hope and prayer that this Erika inspired bipartisan and
unified approach in treating with the rebuilding of Dominica
will bear fruit and will be sustained, sending the signal to all
that we can be a stronger and more successful nation when we
act in unison in all spheres of life.
I want at this time, to congratulate all citizens for the mature,
responsible and law-abiding manner in which they have
conducted themselves during this period of crisis. In many
countries including the highly developed democracies, events
such as these have forced the authorities to suspend some civil
liberties in order to maintain law and order, as some citizens
engage in unscrupulous acts against private and state
property, further aggravating an already difficult situation.
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Our citizens have confronted this crisis with calm, patience
and maturity. Therefore it has not been necessary to suspend
any of the basic rights and freedoms we enjoy under the
Constitution
The response and recovery effort was triggered smoothly with
timeliness and precision. The Office of Disaster Management
(ODM) responded with practiced alacrity to the task and has
been providing yeoman service to the people and professional
advice to the political directorate. They are deserving of our
high commendation.
I am informed that the Emergency Operations Centre has
been diligent in coordinating the national response and the
various National Emergency Planning Organisation (NEPO)
sub committees have undertaken their responsibilities with
seriousness and determination. That is reassuring and
comforting.
The nation owes a debt of gratitude to our police and fire
service personnel who are our first responders, and to the
many volunteer agencies that have quickly responded to this
national disaster.
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The overwhelming response of regional governments and the
international community to our plight is heart warming. Their
positive responses at this, our time of need, has assured us that
we will not walk the road of national recovery alone for they
will be at our side. The public utility companies deserve a
special commendation, as even before the rains had stopped,
they began the work of restoring services.
The cost of recovering will not be easy as preliminary
estimates of damage to public infrastructure run into
hundreds of millions of dollars while damage to the tourism
plant is in the tens of millions. Preliminary esti+mates of the
damage to housing and agriculture is also very high.
Fellow citizens, our government has declared today and
tomorrow as National Days of Mourning for the lives lost as a
result of the tragedy, and Saturday and Sunday have been
declared National Days of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
While our nation mourns, all our able- bodied men and
women have the solemn responsibility to rise up from the ruin
and the shattered lives that surround them and face the task
of rebuilding with a renewed passion and determination.
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With God on our side, we will overcome and we will rebuild
Dominica stronger and better.
May God bless you and may God bless the Commonwealth of
Dominica.
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