THIS CHRISTMAS, spare a thought for those affected by this year's floods.
Think, for instance, of the residents of Bamboo Village, Kelly Village and parts of St Helena still reeling from the events of November.
It will be a gloomy Christmas for so many this year for so many reasons. But while some will be sprucing up their homes, flood victims are still in disarray and remain traumatised, unable to replace water-damaged furniture and other household items.
'I not seeing a Christmas this year,' a weeping Virginia Ramkissoon, 65, told Newsday on Thursday at her Jaffar Street, Bamboo home.
'Every day I does cry as I still can't catch myself. I lost clothes, all my mother nice things that she left me when she died, bed, mattress, furniture -things floated away in the floods. I need help.'
Ms Ramkissoon is not alone. Parents have been struggling to bring Christmas cheer to their children, having lost clothes and school books. The trauma of being marooned in floodwaters for over two days while waiting for the water to subside is still present.
'This year, things won't be so bright,' said Madras Road, St Helena resident Avianne Lewis. She put up a small tree for her children in a gesture of hope.
In the wake of the floods, the Prime Minister spoke a mantra of 'relief, repair and reconstruction.' The Cabinet authorised $150 million to help repair roads, clean rivers and compensate farmers and homeowners.
A total of $100 million was allocated for urgent repair work, $40 million for a national flood relief programme and $10 million for farmers.
But it is worth questioning whether co-ordination between local and central government is working as efficiently as it should. The traditional bugbear of abuse is also looming its head, with unconfirmed reports of people who were not affected benefitting from the distribution of mattresses.
It's not just residents facing a gloomy Christmas, but also businesses.
Sales have been slow, according to many. When it comes to companies affected by flooding, they are still struggling to pick up the pieces.
Up to Thursday, for instance, a full month after the heavy rainfall, workers in some businesses were still sifting through mounds of wet bags and boxes in warehouses to see what could be salvaged. Such scenes raise a lot of questions about the reach of local government agencies.
Meanwhile, grants will undoubtedly be a key measure in all of this. But applications take a lot of time to be processed and there may be a need to have a more hands-on approach in terms of identifying people in need.
It may be too late to salvage Christmas 2022. And the plight of flooding victims is the tip of the iceberg.
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