There are just over 1,100 evacuees remaining in 31 shelters across St. Vincent and the Grenadines; this information was disclosed by Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves during his appearance on NBC Radio’s Face to Face program.
“In terms of the shelters, there are 31 shelters remaining open and the numbers of persons are down to 1,134.” He said.
The Prime Minister said that shelter numbers were stuck at around 1,500 for a number of weeks, but following the recent all clear for residents up to Owia to return to their homes, that number has now been decreased to what it is now.
He goes on to say that of the 31 active shelters, 24 of them are schools.
“24 of these 31 are schools. That’s an important number to look at, because we are scheduled to open schools on October 4th, which means we want to be in a position to take the furniture in, complete painting up where we have to paint up and do everything, all the repairs and the like to the schools, a week or so before the 4th of October.” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves in the past has indicated in the past that it is in the best interest of the nation’s children to have the evacuees that are able to go back to their homes in order for the necessary preparations to be made for the resumption of face to face learning in October of this year.
