Authorities are concerned about the increase in regularity of residential fires to the point where they have put in place a disaster response mechanism to assist fire victims, particularly persons on the lower economic scale.
Speaking at a media briefing, this week, Minister for Equity and Social Affairs Joachim Henry said, he has held discussions with management personnel from the department about providing relief to fire victims.
He said the issue focused not only on assisting fire victims, but to consult with the Fire Services Department and obtain from its data base persons who have been affected by fire. Also, a research is being conducted to determine how they have recovered and the welfare status of these persons.
“We have spoken to the Fire Department and they do have the data base. So, we’ll go back …and do studies to find out what has happened to fire victims,” Henry told reporters.
He said, the exercise would also entail identifying “what we can put in place in terms of the response that can be sustainable.”
The minister noted that one of the issues under review pertains to the payment required to obtain fire reports from the fire department. He explained that the fire report fee has been reduced “significantly” from $200 to $25.
Henry says the fee reduction will greatly assist persons to apply for the “disaster kits” or packages that is obtained from various donor agencies, such as the Red Cross and other entities.
“At the Ministry of Equity, we continue to investigate how they respond and how they recover after the fire because at times, there are other issues (to deal with),” he added.
The minister listed other concerns, such as, loss of family members and fatalities and how it affects the households who are traumatised and what is available in terms of counseling etc. The ministry is also looking into easing the process of fire victims access to other government departments.
Commenting on the Distress Fund aspect, Henry said, reviews are being undertaken so as to determine the response to immediate crises “to ensure that we provide more support as a ministry to fire victims.”
Also, in focus, is the issue of the assessment of housing structures to help provide more adequate accommodations for the lower income residents.
Said Henry: “I’m speaking with the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF) …and even having conversations with my constituents, in terms of their dwelling home. To date, it is cheaper to build a concrete structure than to build a plywood house based on the costs (between) concrete and plywood.”
The Castries South East MP explained that it is cheaper to build a housing structure from the ground foundation than to build on suspended columns.
“There is culture of how we set up our homes, we need to have that conversation and it needs to be done empirically so that persons see exactly what is being done,” he said.
The minister informed that the costs factor works out at about $80 per sq. yd. for a plywood partition, in contrast to $50 per sq. yd.for a concrete unit.
Henry said such discussions are important to liaise with residents and the fire department would also assist in providing information on the cause of fires.
He added, “And if we see a trend, in terms of fires being associated with… electrical problems in the home, then we would work with households and with the Ministry of Infrastructure as to how we (could) provide capacity training and how people become sensitised to the issue of electricity (within) plywood houses.”
[R.A].