BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, September 20, 2017 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Citizens and residents of St. Kitts and Nevis, including Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, are once again giving God thanks for sparing the twin-island Federation the full impact of Hurricane Maria – the third hurricane in as many weeks to threaten the nation.
“We are deeply appreciative that again we have been spared the third hurricane in succession,” Prime Minister Harris said while conducting walkthroughs in the various communities that were significantly affected by the passing hurricane.
After consultations with the economic and social partners, the St. Kitts and Nevis Government declared today, Wednesday, September 20 a National Holiday and dubbed it National Clean Up Day, whereby residents and citizens are asked to remain in their communities and volunteer in cleaning up the environment to assist the country in returning to normalcy.
“Generally, I see a country that has received damage; a people whose spirit remains resilient and ready to go, and again for all these mercies we want to give God thanks and to invite the community to use National Clean Up Day as a day of assessment of their own individual circumstances, that of the community and also nationally, and to make commitments to help us to restore the country to normalcy as quickly as possible,” Prime Minister Harris said.
The St. Kitts and Nevis prime minister led by example, as he, along with Minister of Public Infrastructure, the Honourable Ian Patches Liburd assisted in the removal of sand and debris from the Irish Town Bay Road.
As the nation continues to recover and rebuild, Dr. Harris urged citizens and residents to adopt better practices that can lead to a more resilient St. Kitts and Nevis.
He added, “I think the kind of damages we are seeing – the frequency – must bring to the attention of the national community that we have to build to last for a longer period of time. This idea of people building shacks has to become outdated; this idea of the large quantities of galvanize that are used for fencing, we have to find much more resilient approaches because in the end, these galvanize, these thatch houses about the place can become missiles that can create damage to life and to property.”
Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris noted that these hurricanes brought with them lessons “that we can bring to bear and to shape national policies now, with the consent of the community, for making St. Kitts and Nevis, and by extension our region, much more resilient and put it in a better place to face whatever adversity may come in the future.”
