-NCN telethon a ‘huge success’
By Michelle Gonsalves

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Priya Manickchand addressing yesterday’s meeting of the National Relief Committee for Haiti. With her are Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn (right), and CDC Director, Colonel Chabilall Ramsarup. (Photo by Carl Croker)

WE HAVE a human and a civic responsibility to assist Haiti, said Minister of Human Services and Social Security Ms. Priya Manickchand yesterday while announcing that funds for the Haiti disaster relief have now reached a total of some $213 M.

Speaking from the Conference Room of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) on Thomas Lands, north of the city, at what was the second meeting of the Haitian Disaster Relief Committee, Minister Manickchand said there was no limit to the help they’re asking, since it would be “an indictment on Guyana” if we could not help our brothers and sisters in their time of need.

Urging Guyanese to honour whatever pledges they’ve made towards the relief drive, she said that that a breakdown of the figures amounts to: US$1M ($205M) from the government of Guyana; $779,000 collected by CDC; some $2M from the National Communications Network (NCN); and another $4M that has come in so far from telethon pledges. A bank statement is to be published online to show these records. All figures were audited by the Auditor General’s Department, the minister said.

And while she was grateful for the significant pledges of food and other commodities that have come in from the business community, she warned against the urge to donate perishables, as such items may not be able to hold up for any length of time.

The Minister described the telethon hosted at NCN’s studios, which started last Thursday and ended Friday, as a “huge success,” saying that the awareness it has raised has had its merits, not only with regards to climate change, but in showing as well that Guyana’s “soul” is still intact.

Giving an update of the situation in Haiti, CDC Director, Colonel Chabilall Ramsarup, said that as of 15:00h yesterday, there was still a problem of accessibility to the capital, Port-au-Prince, as main roads were blocked and there was a shortage of fuel and heavy machinery to clean up debris, a situation that has resulted in problems for persons coming in to bring contributions. There have been pledges of help from CARICOM countries, he said, but they too have encountered some problems in getting them there.

Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn, added that the problem of destruction of ports and cranes will take some time to be remedied.

And Head of Marketing at the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), Mr. Whyston Robertson said that their parent company, Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN), has set up two call-centres in Haiti so that people can call their loved ones free of cost. GT&T has also made equipment available to the local relief committee.

Pertaining to rumours going the round that the government is thinking of relocating some Haitians here, Minister Manickchand, while stressing the need to treat the victims of such a colossal tragedy with dignity, said that any such decision as suggested would be “precipitate” as one needs to wait on a full report from CARICOM before taking action.

The earthquake, a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 on the Richter Scale, was centred approximately 15 kilometres from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and struck around 17:00h local time on Tuesday, January 12.

Most of the city’s major landmarks were significantly damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly Building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, the main jail, and at least one hospital, and hundreds of thousand of persons are believed to have died.