ST AUGUSTINE MP Khadijah Ameen is calling on government to provide emergency social support and urgent clean-up relief for communities affected by flooding.

She said in a press release on Monday that this help is needed as it was clear the government’s lack of foresight and proper planning left tens of thousands literally in the cold.

The UNC’s shadow rural development and local government minister made the call as she visited constituents affected by recent flooding, together with councillors of the St Augustine constituency

Ameen said it appeared the government was doing below the bare minimum to get citizens’ lives back in order and that numerous government agencies appeared to be without leadership in this crisis.

The UNC deputy chairman, who has been on the field over the last few days distributing meals and other relief items, said, “Throughout the country, thousands are despondent and broken as they are without hot meals, without key grocery items which have been lost in the flood, no medication and not even a warm mattress to rest on.”

She said what was needed urgently are hot meals and groceries for those still marooned and those whose groceries have been destroyed; assessments of homes with damaged furniture, appliances, and household items; assessments by the National Self Help Commission on homes that suffered infrastructural damage and would need minor repairs; disinfectants and manual labour to clear homes, yards and roadways of slush and silt; and removing truckloads of debris.

The MP said the absence of government agencies on the ground was reflective of the ever-widening disconnect between respective ministers who appear to not have an appreciation of the reality on the ground and the crisis citizens are facing at this time.

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