 |
Volcano delays start of school on Montserrat
August 27, 1997
Web posted at: 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 GMT)Latest developments:
- 8 prisoners taken to Caymans
- Relative quiet welcomed
- Children's health a concern
- Praying for the British government
MONTSERRAT (CNN) -- The British warship HMS Liverpool left Montserrat Wednesday with a handful of residents who were the only ones on the island who had no choice in their evacuation: eight prisoners from the island's jail.
The were taken to the Cayman Islands where they will serve their sentences until another jail is built to replace the one lost to the Soufriere Hills volcano.
CNN's John Zarrella reports
1 min., 39 sec. VXtreme streaming video
Their return to Montserrat could be a long time in coming. Although the British have all but abandoned plans to evacuate the island's remaining 5,000 citizens, a new jail is well down the priority list when it comes to making the island habitable again.
Of greater immediate interest is the start of classes for Montserrat's public school students. Classes were scheduled to begin September 8, but officials said the opening will be pushed back to October 8 to allow more time for emergency housing to be built on the island's north side.
"It has been pushed back a month," said government spokesman Herman Sargeant. "By that time there should be enough housing built to take the people out of the shelters."
Further complicating the task is the uncertainty as to how many school-age children are still on the island.
Relative quiet welcomed
The Soufriere Hills volcano erupted in July 1995, and devastated the southern part of the island. Another eruption last June destroyed seven villages and killed 19 people, and yet another in early August destroyed much of Plymouth, the tiny island's abandoned capital. On Monday, part of the volcano's dome collapsed, sending another landslide of rock and debris into the outskirts of the capital.
The island's original population of 11,000 has shrunk to between 4,000 and 5,000, and how many of those are school-age children no one can say.
The volcano was relatively quiet Wednesday, a promising sign in a place that badly needs promising signs.
Living conditions are deteriorating. The infrastructure has collapsed, and while experts think the worst of the eruptions are over, islanders still wonder how much help they can expect in putting their lives back together.
"This is a community in crisis," says Frank Savage, the island's British governor. "This is the biggest disaster to overtake any Caribbean island since the volcanic activity in Martinique in 1902. So, you are seeing a community which has done fantastically well for the last two years and has battled bravely against the odds."
Children's health a concern
Because so many islanders have refused to leave, Great Britain is abandoning its evacuation plans. Only 34 people have left the island in the past week, and neighboring Antigua has been grumbling that it can handle no more evacuees except in a dire emergency.
Most of the Montserrat's remaining residents are crowded into homes, shelters, churches and schools in the northern third of the island. Officials are particularly concerned about the health of children who have been exposed periodically to falling ash and the uncertainty of life on the island.
At a summer camp for children run by the Montserrat Christian Council in the town of St. Peter's, on the northwest coast, teachers said that giving children a sense of normalcy was critical.
"The Christian Council, due to the volcano eruptions and the evacuations, came up with this camp to give the children something to do," said teacher Ishmiel Cutter Scarritt during a break from teaching 27 children to play steel drums.
At nearby St. Peter's Catholic Church, meanwhile, about 50 senior citizens participated in a prayer service.
Dissatisfaction running high
"We are praying for the British government," said Marjorie Joseph, a nurse caring for the elderly.
Despite British promises of spending $64 million to re-settle islanders and build 250 new homes, dissatisfaction with Britain's handling of the volcano crisis remained high.
Authorities in neighboring Antigua have also chimed in, criticizing Britain for failing to provide aid to ease overcrowded schools and shelters on that island.
Montserrat Chief Minister David Brandt returned to Montserrat Wednesday from Antigua where he met with a group of Caribbean leaders. At a news conference on Tuesday Brandt said he thought Britain might push for a complete evacuation of Montserrat.
There have been no indications that that is what the British intend, and Britain's undersecretary of state for international development, George Foulkes, is scheduled to visit Montserrat this weekend.
While the apparent reason for his visit is to assess the damage to the island and help the British government in its planning, his visit is also viewed as an attempt to ease tensions between the islanders and the British government.
Correspondent John Zarrella and Reuters contributed to this report.
- Message Board: Montserrat evacuation
Related stories:
- Volcano, human emotions still smolder on Montserrat - August 26, 1997
- Evacuation of Montserrat flowing slowly - August 24, 1997
- Residents begin exodus from volcano ravaged paradise - August 22, 1997
Related site:
Note: Page will open in a new browser windowExternal sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
Sound off on our message boards
You said it... |
|
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.