A house which was washed away by the Hope River in Kintyre, St Andrew last week. - Norman Grindley/acting photography editor

GOVERNMENT HAS pledged assistance to the families of the 12 persons who died as a result of Tropical Storm Gustav which struck the island last Thursday.

In a statement to Parliament yesterday, on the impact of the tropical storm, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has been instructed to provide help with funeral expenses.

Six days after the passage of Gustav, 13 communities in St Thomas, Portland, St Andrew and St Catherine are still marooned due to landslides and breakaways.

Golding told the House that the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has been airlifting food supplies to these communities.

Preliminary reports indicate that more than 200 houses were destroyed or suffered extensive damage as a result of the tropical storm. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is now conducting assessments to determine which families were seriously impacted by the storm.

The prime minister told his parliamentary colleagues that displaced persons would get help in recovering from the effects of Gustav. In particular, he said assistance would be provided to rebuild or repair affected houses.

Estimates for houses destroyed or damaged should be completed in the next seven days. Other assessments for repair to roads, infrastructure, schools, health facilities, water and sewerage systems will also be completed by next week.

Budget adjustments

Not willing to provide a preliminary estimate of the overall damage, Golding said the cost was expected to be significant and would require adjustments to the Government's budget.

Members of Parliament (MPs) will receive a disbursement of $2 million to assist constituents who were hit hard by the tropical storm.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller suggested that the Government should take a serious look at flood-prone communities such as Kennedy Grove and Nightingale Grove in St Catherine with a view to relocating residents.

While empathising with resi-dents whose homes were inundated during heavy rains, Golding said the Government would have to meet with the Opposition to draft a policy position as it relates to these vulnerable communities.

He pointed out, however, that the Government would not be in a position to provide the full cost to relocate these persons, but could assist in the effort.

Of the 100 shelters opened to house Jamaicans during the passage of the storm, only 10 remain open, providing accom-modation for about 248 persons.

Meanwhile, the prime minister has set up a task force under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Works to make good on his promise to clamp down on the construction of houses along the banks of the Hope River.

Four people plunged to their deaths when their houses collapsed in the raging river during the storm.

"Several other houses remain precariously perched on the edge of the river," Golding told Parliament yesterday.