TFHA01: EASTERN CARIBBEAN GOVERNMENTS PLEDGE HAITI

UNCLAS BRIDGETOWN 000038 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO MARR PREL PINR AMGT SUBJECT: TFHA01: EASTERN CARIBBEAN GOVERNMENTS PLEDGE HAITI EARTHQUAKE AID ¶1. (U) Governments, NGOs, businesses and private citizens throughout the Eastern Caribbean have reacted immediately to the Haiti disaster with a massive outpouring of concern and pledges of money and material. Governments in the region are attempting to organize a coordinated response through regional entities like CARICOM and CDEMA (the regional emergency relief agency),while the private sector is working hard to collect donations. There is still some confusion and lack of coordination of these efforts, but collection and forwarding plans are being actively worked out and should be streamlined in the coming weeks. Local press reports that Dominica PM Roosevelt Skerrit, in his capacity as CARICOM chair, accompanied by PM Thompson of Barbados would fly to Haiti on Friday, 1/15 as part of a fact finding mission to assess the needs there. (Comment: Barbados had not planned to make such a visit at this time, but PM Denzil Douglas apparently made an announcement of the proposed visit while campaigning, and the visit has been hastily pulled together in coordination with PM Golding in Jamaica. End Comment). ¶2. Country-specific pledges and announcements follow: -------------- St. Vincent and the Grenadines -------------- ¶3. (U) St. Vincent Prime Minister Gonsalves announced, and MFA confirmed, that St. Vincent will be sending flour, rice and bottled water to Haiti, along with an unspecified cash donation. -------------- Barbados -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Barbados PM Thompson announced publicly that Barbados is arranging a disaster response to include availability of Regional Security System (RSS) assets. Barbados security officials told us privately that they hope to send up to 60 Barbados Defense Force personnel and up to six Search and Rescue specialists to assist as well, and are looking at how best to coordinate their deployment. Barbadian officials informed us that they hope, though CDEMA as organizer, to use Jamaica as a consolidation point for CARICOM country donations to Haiti in preparation for further handling. ¶5. (U) Also in the Barbadian civil society sector: -- The One Caribbean Media Group comprising Starcom Network, Nation �00A;Publishing Company, The Express Newspaper (Trinidad) TV 6 (Trinidad),GBN (Grenada) will be hosting a telethon to raise BDS$ 1 million (US$500,000) for Haiti on Saturday January 16th from 8 a.m. until noon. The telethon will also be broadcast on Hott 93 in Trinidad and Klassic Radio in Grenada and the Wave Radio in St. Lucia. -- The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC),the island's lone television station, is in the final stages of planning a relief effort which they will announce January 14 or 15. -- The Salvation Army has launched an appeal. -- Spoken Word Artiste AJA has launched a food appeal. -- President of the Guild of Graduates of the University of the West Indies Carl Padmore has launched a food and clothing appeal. -- Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies Dr. John Holder has said he will mobilize the churches in his province to start a donation project. -- The Catholic Church is taking up donations to send to CARITAS in Haiti -- The Barbados Youth Development Council is attempting to coalesce the country's youth organizations into an umbrella relief effort. -------------- Dominica -------------- ¶6. (U) The Government of Dominica has been in contact with a US-based private sector bulk water carrier to explore the potential for providing potable fresh water as follows: The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica asked Sisserou Water to assist to transport bulk water to Haiti under a long term donation from Dominica. Sisserou Water has located, arranged and studies the securing of the floating storage water tanker (barge for storage is being inspected on Friday in New Orleans La), transportation of the water, and all the other factors. The company believes this system can be in place in Haiti within about 2 to 3 weeks if needed. The Government of Commonwealth of Dominica (with Sisserou Water) could arrange about 2.6 million U.S. gallons every 2 days into the Port Au Prince area for distribution. According to the company, which claims extensive previous experience in Haiti and on-the-ground Haitian staff, The water could be distributed either: 1 - directly from the floating storage barges into a central water area for people with buckets/bottles 2 - directly from the floating storage barge into above pipe lines to interior areas of Port Au Prince for people with buckets/bottles 3 - directly from the floating storage barge into whatever is still operational of the local water system that is not damaged. 4 - directly from floating storage barge into bottles for distribution To people. -------------- Grenada -------------- ¶7. (U) Prime Minister Thomas convened a meeting of the National Emergency Advisory Council (NEAC) to determine what support Grenada might be able to provide to Haiti. Grenada will take its lead from Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). If materials do prove useful, it will look to CDEMA or the U.S. to assist delivery of the materials. It expects cash will be useful in any event, and steps will proceed to collect it. The NEAC queried whether the U.S. would be in a position to help deliver supplies from Grenada identified as useful by CDEMA. Grenada's response is very much informed by the circumstances of, and the generosity of the international response to, its own disaster in 2003. With limited resources, the island is straining to come up with ways in which it can make a difference for another Caribbean country in distress. ¶8. (U) Thomas said the government would: -- Establish a government account to collect donations. The government should decide in advance who will eventually receive these funds. -- Hold a phonathon sponsored by the Government Information Network to raise funds. The effort is scheduled for Monday, 18 January. It will complement a region-wide phonathon to be held on Saturday, 16 Jan, by a private TV channel. The Government decided to mount a separate effort since Saturday morning typically has a low TV audience and it doubts that it will collect much money. -- Assess potential donations of food and materials pending word from CDEMA. A quick inventory suggested that Grenada can spare batteries, lanterns, collapsible water containers, blankets, camping mats, bowls and portable toilets. UNDP authorized monies for foodstuff purchases - Grenada is considering donating its remaining food monies, USD 4,165, if a way can be found to ship the food from Grenada to Haiti. -- Encourage the Grenadian diaspora in the U.S. to purchase water for delivery to Haiti. The emphasis on water derived from the comments of the police rep, who has served with the U.N. in Haiti. In his view, water is likely to be the most needed commodity in Haiti. -- Provide the Regional Security Service's (RSS) with the name of a single trained disaster responder to stand-by. That person already has been designated. -- Consult with local companies about making available teams that can travel to Haiti to help restore power, telephone, and other utilities. -- Provide a list of disaster management responders to CDEMA with the intent to rotate supplied. -- Consult with NGOs and churches on mounting a church-based collection effort at the end of the month. -- Consider whether to take Haitian children into Grenadian schools until their own schools are rebuilt. Although Grenada's patois has considerable French influence, there is concern about the language barrier between English and Creole. HARDT