Mapp Urges Residents To Support Relief Efforts In Dominica

ST. THOMAS — Governor Kenneth Mapp is urging the territory’s residents to support relief efforts now underway to help Dominica, the Commonwealth of roughly 70,000 people that was ravaged by Tropical Storm Erika early Thursday, according to a press release issued by Government House this evening.

“The people of the Virgin Islands should unite in prayer and generosity,” Mapp said. “We are all members of a Caribbean family, which moves us to be compassionate and reliable when tragedy strikes.”

Yesterday, The Consortium spoke to well-respected and ubiquitous Dominican, Alex Bruno, who’s also a former news reporter, appearing for multiple years on many of the island’s prominent radio stations, and he said the island was in a “crisis” following Erika’s passage.

Tropical Storm Erika Devastates Dominica

“Dominica is in crisis, based on the reports coming in from around the country,” Bruno told this publication. He said it had been confirmed that two brothers were swept away by flood waters in Bath Estate, Roseau, the island’s main town. However, it remained unknown whether they survived. Today, CNN is reporting that 12 people have been confirmed dead with many more still missing.

Mapp said his administration is prepared to share whatever resources the territory can muster, and is reaching out to the benevolent societies which represent Dominicans in the territory to determine what kind of assistance should be prioritized, and how it can be efficiently delivered to areas of greatest need. He also pledged his government’s assistance in making available all information required by individuals and businesses willing to support the relief effort.

And indicating his desire to encourage a more regional response to the crisis in Dominica, the commander in chief says he will raise the subject during planned meetings with the Governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

“The deepest sympathies of Virgin Islanders to the families in Dominica who have lost loved ones, and to friends and family members with close ties to that island now residing in the territory,” the governor concluded.

According to Bruno, Dominica will need all the help it could garner, as officials are estimating damages in the hundreds of millions — “if not over a billion dollars,” he said, putting into perspective the cataclysmic event that was tropical storm Erika in Dominica.