The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services commenced the distribution of disaster relief grants, paid in the form of cheques, to the Beetham Community, to assist in the replacement of destroyed household items following the severe flooding which occurred due to heavy rainfall on July 01, 2018. Additionally, seven (7) more flood victims from the Belmont area received their relief grants and today – September 5th, a total of fifty-two (52) of the fifty-six (56) grants representing valid applications from the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation will be distributed at the Social Welfare Office in Chaguanas. The distribution of grants follows the assessment and verification conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government of claims for destroyed items.
With respect to the claims received from the San/Juan Regional Corporation, on behalf of the residents of Beetham community, that were affected by the events of July 1, 2018, and again on August 13th– 14th, 2018; these cheques were processed and distributed on Monday September 3, 2018.
Claims were subsequently received from the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Tunapuna/Piarco and Port of Spain City Corporation for families affected by the adverse weather conditions on August 13-14th, 2018 and these will be distributed today. The Ministry has been advised that claims were made at the Chaguanas Regional Corporation, however, these have not yet been received. The Ministry will continue the distribution in the upcoming days to other affected families.
The Ministry wishes to advise that over the years, it has sought to provide almost immediate relief to affected persons. In Fiscal 2017, following tropical storm Bret in June, and another weather activity in October, the Ministry received in excess of 3,000 reports from the various Disaster Management Units (DMUs) across the country. Relief was provided to 2,748 valid applicants. Approximately 500 of the citizens who were provided with relief over these two incidents were from the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Corporation.
It should be noted that only claims for the following household items are accepted for Disaster Management Relief:
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Additionally, the Ministry has begun to receive claims for minor house repair grants, through the National Social Development Programme (NSDP) for damages caused as a result of the 6.9 earthquake which occurred on August 21, 2018. These are at present, being processed.
While the Ministry cannot replace all that has been lost, it remains committed to assisting in restoring some level of normalcy to all victims of natural disasters, and their families. Persons who were affected but have not yet received a visit, are advised to contact their Disaster Management Units of their respective Regional Corporation for first level needs assessments. Once validated claims have been received from the Corporations, the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, as second responder, will process claims accordingly.
Persons may call the Ministry’s hotline number 800 – 1MSD for further details.